


Going Soft

by BlueRaith



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Adoption, Alex and Maggie adopt an alien kid, Alien Jamie Sawyer-Danvers, F/F, Fluff with an edge of angst, Kid Fic, Now with crime fighting!, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-18 13:51:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11875869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRaith/pseuds/BlueRaith
Summary: Maggie and Alex find a small, alien girl on one of their crime scenes. They both know what it means to suffer loss, and get attached before they realize what hits them.





	1. One

The alleyway was dank, gross, and wet. This wasn’t the best neighborhood, and it had rained hard the night before. Trash was starting to smell, and the body in front of her wasn’t doing much better. It was female, alien, and very, very dead. Maggie took note of the knife still sticking out of the woman’s side. It was weird. This was a pretty damn good knife. Alex might have a greater appreciation for it than she did, but Maggie could spot a well taken care of tool when she saw one. It was large, tactical, and not something someone would just leave behind in the stomach of their victim.

That, and it was also weird that the murderer literally left the weapon responsible behind for the police to accept. That was a stupid mistake if Maggie had ever seen one. And she had. Seen a ton, in fact. Turns out many criminals weren’t the smartest people out there. Still, to leave behind the knife. It didn’t make sense, and it left Maggie wondering why the woman was killed in the first place.

As far as she could tell, nothing on the woman’s body had been stolen. There wasn’t a wallet to be found, but that wasn’t too unusual when it came to aliens. Amnesty act or not, there was still a good chunk of the alien populous that wasn’t ready to trust humanity. They weren’t about to line up outside the DMV for ID cards or driver’s licenses. She did find a wad of cash on the body, as well as some nice looking jewelry. Which meant that the motive wasn’t to mug the victim.

Either this was just a random killing, which was unlikely, or the victim knew their killer.

“Find anything?” Alex asked as she ducked under the police tape. The DEO was having a slow day. Alex had texted her earlier in the day expressing her boredom with a ton of emojis and Maggie had offered up her dead friend here as a distraction.

“Not really. I know she wasn’t mugged. Take a look at her accessories. Lady was pretty well off,” Maggie said as she lifted the necklace the woman was wearing with her pen.

“Take a look at that  _ knife,”  _ Alex said as she whistled in admiration. “I’ve only seen three of those. Alien made, doesn’t rust, and dulls over the course of  _ years  _ instead of weeks. Wow. Who left that behind?”

“Just what I was wondering, Danvers. Makes me think she knew who did this to her,” Maggie voiced her theory.

“That, or we have a potential serial killer on our hands.”

Maggie shuddered. She  _ hated  _ those cases. Almost as much as she hated cases with kids. “I hope not.”

Before Alex could agree with her, they heard a shuffle from further down the alley. It was dark, the floodlights that were covering her crime scene didn’t illuminate that far back. It led to a dead end, and Maggie had sent some uniforms to make sure it was clear. Figures the rookies missed something.

“Damn rookies,” Maggie muttered as she and Alex drew their sidearms. Alex’s let off a subtle blue glow that slightly illuminated their surroundings as they moved down towards the noise.

“Let’s hope it’s just an animal,” Alex whispered back. “Not really looking forward to an alien fight today.”

Maggie shot her a tiny glare. “Probably because you won’t sit down and rest for more than a few moments, Danvers. Those ribs aren’t just going to magically heal over night.”

A sniffle this time had them both stopping their banter. It sounded from a dumpster located at the brick wall that closed them in. Alex went to one side, and Maggie went to the other. Both traded one look to make sure they were both ready for whatever was waiting for them inside. And sure, maybe they should have called out, asked whatever was in there to come out. But Maggie had been on this scene for at least and hour and a half, along with other officers. If this person had wanted to come out, they would have done so long ago. Which meant that they were hiding on purpose.

And there were many reasons why they wanted to do so, many of them not good.

With a nod, they each grabbed one side of the dumpster cover and threw it open.

Several things happened at once.

First, she and Alex were bodily thrown back from the dumpster by a bolt of purple energy. It wasn’t hot or burning, but it did hit them as solidly as a wall would have. It knocked the breath from Maggie, and she could hear Alex wheezing painfully from her already cracked ribs taking another beating.

Second, the thing inside the dumpster started crying loudly.

Third, Maggie realized that the thing inside the dumpster didn’t at  _ all  _ sound like an animal.

Slowly, and with a grunt, Maggie stood up again and warily re-approached the dumpster. Alex’s wheezes started to sound a little like words, but she couldn’t quite get the breath back to make sense. Maggie knew she was telling her to wait, but she had a heavy feeling in her stomach. Maggie  _ hated  _ these kinds of cases. They were her least favorite, and she wanted to make sure that, if she saw what she already figured she was going to find, that the matter was going to be taken care of properly.

“Hello? My name is Detective Maggie Sawyer,” she called out quietly. Not wanting to startle the thing inside again. “I’m coming closer. Think you can keep from throwing me again?”

She didn’t get an answer, but the purple light that was coming from the dumpster faded to a slight glow. Maggie decided to take that as a good sign. She carefully peeked over the lip of the dumpster and closed her eyes with a heavy breath.

_ Damn. _

She found exactly what she hoped not to.

The kid was small, probably the human equivalent of a five year old. She was filthy from being in the dumpster all night, shivering, and tear streaked. She also looked quite a bit like the body Maggie had been investigating.

There was no bet to be made here, Maggie was certain they were related, and she was also pretty sure the kid had been hidden here for her protection. Probably by her deceased relative Maggie was going to guess had been her mother.

“Hi,” Maggie said as she inside again. The kid’s powers were fading a little bit more, but not too much that darkness was allowed to come over them again. Maggie didn’t really blame her. It was probably terrifying to sit there in a cold, wet, stinking trash pile after  _ at least  _ overhearing something horrifying.

The kid sniffled again as she rubbed at her nose.

“What’s your name?” Maggie asked.

Kids sometimes got like this. Unwilling to talk first because their whole worlds had been turned upside down and they weren’t sure who they could trust any more. Maggie could relate to an uncomfortable level.

“Jamie.”

It was whispered so softly, Maggie had to strain to hear it. But the next question was a little louder.

“Am I in trouble?”

More tears leaked out.

Maggie was quick to answer. “No! Not at all.”

“I hurt you,” Jamie whimpered. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”

“You were scared,” Maggie guessed easily. “That’s okay. You didn’t know if we were bad guys.”

“Is…. Is my mommy….”

She couldn’t finish, and she must have been able to read Maggie’s answer from her expression, because the kid’s face crumpled even further as sobs shook her whole body.

“Hey, hey,” Maggie forcefully bit her lip to keep herself from saying ‘it’s okay.’ Because it wasn’t. She had hated hearing it herself that one Valentine’s Day, and she wasn’t going to repeat those words to a kid whose life was just upended. “How about we get out of there?”

She didn’t get an answer.

Maggie started at the hand that touched the small of her back, but then relaxed when she realized that it was only Alex. She had undoubtedly overheard the entire conversation. When Maggie turned to face her, Alex looked just as sad as she felt. Maybe even worse. Maggie knew for a fact that Alex didn’t really get to deal with children much in her job, much to her good fortune. Just bloodthirsty aliens. She could already tell this was going to hit her wife in the gut.

“I can’t climb over,” Alex whispered as she touched her ribs with a wince. “But you can. Hand her to me and we can at least get her out of here.”

Alex put her hands together to create a makeshift step. Maggie pressed her foot into it, and almost immediately stepped out as she heard the sharp inhale Alex made. “Are you okay?” She demanded, zeroing in to Alex’s injured side.

Which was a mistake. One that Maggie  _ knew  _ she shouldn’t have made. Because her wife was the most stubborn person she had ever met, and that was a surefire way to get Alex to insist she was  _ ‘fine.’ _

“I’m fine,” Alex grunted.

Maggie rolled her eyes.

“You’re not fine. I’ll call—”

“One of the uniforms who completely missed the kid in the first place?” Alex asked with a scoff. “Come on. Besides, do we really want to get a ton of people surrounding her all at once? You know the paramedics are going to want to swarm her as soon as they see her. The fewer people that ambush her, the better.”

Maggie huffed, and went to the side of the dumpster. They usually had a hatch that slid open. This one did indeed have one.

And it was chained shut.

Maggie glared at it. Who really needed to be this protective over actual garbage?

“Hey guys!”

The voice that sounded behind them was perky and cheery enough not to give Maggie a heart attack.

Only one person could sound this damn cheerful on a murder scene.

“Hey, Supergirl,” Alex answered for her.

“What happened?” The cheeriness dropped immediately to concern as Kara doubtlessly spotted Alex nursing her injured side.

“Nothi—”

“You have  _ three  _ broken ribs, Alex!” Kara interrupted. Well, that was good to know. Maggie was under no illusion that Alex would have allowed herself to get properly checked out until she was certain the kid was taken care of. Which meant she was going to push herself to exhaustion on broken ribs. Something that Maggie was going to prevent as much as she could. Having Kara there would certainly help, and Maggie was going to tattle to J’onn as soon as they got back to the DEO.

Alex muttered something that sounded an awful lot like, “Damn x-ray vision,” but Maggie had more urgent things to consider.

“Supergirl,” she interrupted before the sisters could begin to argue about the merits of proper self-care. That was an argument Maggie could perform both parts to perfectly. “There’s a kid in here. Can you get her out?”

Because poor Jamie had gotten quiet again, but Maggie could see that the kid was still shaking with now silent sobs.

Kara sobered instantly. “Oh, geez.” She hovered over the dumpster and saw exactly what had Maggie preoccupied and gasped.

Maggie wasn’t afraid to admit that she had a previous problem with Kara involving herself in human crime fighting. (One that was slowly fading as she gave Kara a crash course in police procedure, how not to destroy evidence and property, and the concept of superhero brutality. Kara was a good student.) However, there were two things Kara regularly did in her Supergirl duties that Maggie actually admired her for. One was standing toe-to-toe with some of the most powerful, angry, and crazed superpowered alien aggressors like it was a normal day of the week for her. And to be fair, it probably was, but that still took some guts.

The other was when Supergirl dealt with kids. Both the regular, run of the mill, lucky ones she met on the street who wore Supergirl t-shirts and just wanted a selfie with their favorite hero. As well as the unlucky, hurt, and vulnerable kids who  _ needed  _ saving. Maggie knew what it was like to need saving. And then not have anybody come. It was an experience that made a person feel small and insignificant.

Yet Kara had a way of making  _ everyone  _ she met feel important and as if they mattered. Jamie seemed to have been swept up in that very feeling as she boggled at the sight of Supergirl herself sitting cross-legged in the middle of a dumpster with her. Heedless of the wet garbage sticking to her boots and skirt.

“Hi,” Kara smiled gently. It wasn’t a huge, happy, toothy beam that she flashed at people when she wanted to portray how excitedly joyful she could be. But a small, demure, and gentle one. One that seemed to perfectly exude comfort and safety, as well as understanding and empathy. Not sympathy. Because Maggie knew that Kara didn’t need to  _ guess  _ at what this kid was feeling. It seemed that the three adults here in this alley were all well versed in loss and hated to see it unfold first hand on someone who should have been way too young to experience it for themselves.

Jamie stared at her, apparently unsure of what to say. Or stunned. Maggie thinks she would have stared if an honest to God superhero had appeared right in front of her while she hitchhiked to her aunt’s house on that wet night.

“What’s your name?” Kara asked. “I’m Supergirl.”

“I know,” Jamie told her, then looked down at her hands. “Jamie.” Her name came out almost too quietly to hear.

Luckily Kara was an alien with super hearing. “That’s a nice name. Can I help you get out?”

The question sent Jamie scrambling to the side of the dumpster and shaking her head wildly. “No! I have to stay here! Mommy said not to leave! The bad guy— I have to hide….”

She was breathing wildly and Maggie swallowed roughly. The kid was clearly traumatized, and it wasn’t easy to watch.

“The bad guy’s gone,” Kara told her and inched a little closer, though was careful to stop when Jamie squirmed uncomfortably. “He’s not going to get you.”

“He hurt her,” Jamie said, voice trembling as tears came down again. “I heard him. H-he hurt her. He left. He could come back.”

Great. So the kid overheard her own mother’s murder. Maggie  _ hated  _ these cases.

“He’s not going to come back,” Kara insisted. “And if he  _ does,  _ I’ll stop him. I’m Supergirl, remember?”

For most kids, that line probably would have completely erased their fears. Knowing that a real life superhero was going to watch over them and keep them safe. This kid, though, just shook her head and started crying again.

“H-he’s g-got powers too. M-mommy d-did too.”

Maggie’s mood plummeted further. Not only were they tracking a superpowered alien murderer, but there wasn’t going to be comforting this kid, their  _ sole  _ witness to the murder, that she was safe. At least not easily.

This time Alex stepped up.

“Hey, Jamie,” she said, and still sounded short of breath, but the grin she sent the kid completely belied the pain she was probably in. Maggie wondered if Alex had experience in hiding injuries caused by alien kids from said kid. It couldn’t have been easy for Kara to adjust to living on Earth with superpowers. “My name is Special Agent Alex Danvers. I’m an… alien cop. I make sure all the bad guys with powers don’t hurt anyone, and if they do, I put them in jail. I’m going to make sure we catch the bad guy, and he’s not going to hurt you. I’ve been doing this for a long time.”

“See?” Kara asked. “You’ve got me, Agent Danvers, and even Detective Sawyer. She’s a good cop too. We’ll make sure you’re safe. No one’s going to hurt you. It’s okay to come out.”

Jamie thought long and hard about this as she stared at them all in turn. Maggie made sure to seem as open to her as possible. Kara was right, she was going to do what she could to help this kid. This really was the worst part of her job, just after child victims.  _ Those  _ were the worst. Coming across the small bodies, knowing that those victims never stood a chance against their attackers. But this was a close second. When those kids survived their nightmarish encounters and had to talk about them. Had to relive their trauma. And then,  _ then,  _ after Maggie tracks down the bastard who was responsible for this kid cowing in a damned  _ dumpster,  _ the kid was going to have to again relive this night in front of a judge, jury, and everyone else in courtroom. Maggie didn’t even want to imagine the kind of stress that came with that.

Jamie looked back to Kara and nodded hesitantly. She clinged to Kara tightly as she was carried out and didn’t seem to want to let go anytime soon. Kara started to walk away, but she paused as her eyes narrowed, gaze locked on the mouth of the alley.

“There are reporters,” she said, sounding grumpy.

“You don’t sound too pleased by that,” Maggie said, and raised an eyebrow. Kara  _ was  _ a reporter herself.

But Kara huffed and almost seemed to  _ sneer.  _ Well, as close to giving a sneer as she could. It didn’t seem very natural coming from Kara. “Fine. ‘Reporter’ is a strong word. I know them. They’re vultures. Paparazzi. They’re going to swarm us as soon as they see me carrying Jamie out of the alley.”

“Of course,” Maggie said as she rolled her eyes. She was familiar with this too. Anywhere Supergirl went, the news followed. Some were reporters like Kara. Actually interested in the news, finding the truth, and reporting that accurately. Others were like the bunch that seemed to be deeply offending Kara’s sense of professionalism. Out just to get a picture of Supergirl to splash across the fronts of magazines and making up the juiciest story they possibly could with only the barest of bare boned truth to outline it.

Maggie could see it now. “SUPERGIRL SAVES ORPHAN FROM NEGLECTFUL POLICE”

Because those damned rookies hadn’t noticed Jamie, and she really should have been removed from the scene over an hour ago. Truthfully, that headline was more accurate than Maggie liked to comfortably admit. Still, the outcome wouldn’t be in Jamie’s best interest. Having dozens of people surrounding her, loudly demanding answers from Supergirl and possibly Jamie herself, camera flashes going off like fireworks around her. And then her picture plastered all over magazines in gas stations and grocery stores. Possibly even the news if this story took off. Five or not, no one really deserved to have their tragedies unwillingly broadcasted for the world to see.

She removed her NCPD jacket, passed it to Alex, and held her arms out for the kid. “I’ll carry her. We’ll cover her in my jacket, and they won’t get a picture they can use.”

It sounded easy enough, except for one thing: Jamie was practically glued to Kara. She was already shaking her head at the thought of letting Supergirl go. And sure, she and Alex were a cop and secret agent respectively, but there was probably a much more satisfying knowledge in knowing that a superhero was carrying her.

“Maggie and Alex will make sure you’re safe,” Kara said. “They’re really awesome, and I’ll be right there too, even if you can’t see me. I won’t go far, I promise.”

Jamie pulled back and regarded Kara was a seriousness that didn’t really fit on her small, childlike face. Slowly, she held her hand out.  _ “Promise?”  _ The kid enunciated the word in a way that had Maggie wondering just what this was about.

It had to be significant, because Kara went very still. She had a feeling Kara knew exactly what kind of alien this kid was, and what she was asking her to do. Alex picked up on it too.

“K-Supergirl?” Alex asked warily.

“She wants to know if I’m telling the truth,” Kara answered. “Her people have telepathic powers through skin contact.”

Aliens always got the cool powers.

“Will her powers work on you? J’onn’s don’t,” Alex pointed out.

Kara shrugged. “Don’t know.” She pressed her hand to Jamie’s all the same. Purple tendrils of energy snaked their way from Jamie’s finger tips, and jumped to Kara’s hand. They seemed to wisp their way over Kara’s suit and towards her head. They disappeared once they reached Kara’s eyes.

They were both still for a few moments. Nothing overly long, but it still made Maggie and Alex squirm uncomfortably at the stillness. They had no idea of this was safe for Kara. Not that Jamie was purposefully trying to hurt her. She was just a kid. But that didn’t mean she was in control of her powers, knew what she was doing, or if this was safe for Kara to even do. There were a lot of variables in this and—

Jamie leaned back and beamed. It was a stark difference to her earlier behavior, and it had Maggie wondering what the kid had saw. Or heard. Or however her powers worked.

“You’re nice,” Jamie announced, as if it were a simple fact of the world. Which, to be fair, it pretty much was. Kara Danvers was easily the nicest person Maggie had ever met in her entire life.

“Will you go with Alex and Maggie? They’re nice too,” Kara said, smiling.

The kid stared at Alex next, but it wasn’t filled with suspicion this time. In fact, Maggie would almost say that it was willed with a sense of  _ knowing.  _ It was weird.

“You’re her sister,” she stated. “Supergirl was thinking about when you take care of her.”

Alex shot her sister an exasperated glare. “Really? Can you keep this a secret from  _ anyone?”  _ Her wife shook her head, but Maggie could tell from the way Alex smiled that she didn’t really mind this slip up in this context. It was making the kid feel better, at least.

“I won’t tell nobody,” the kid said, as if reading all their minds. “I know how to keep a secret. I have to all the time. My… my mommy said I couldn’t tell nobody about me. She said bad people were after us. You’ll… you’ll catch the bad guys?”

Well, now they had motive. Maggie was prepared to give the kid some time to process what had happened to her and and her mother, but if she was going to freely offer information, then Maggie wasn’t going to sneeze at it.

She didn’t get the chance to press the matter, though. Kara handed the kid right over to her, and Maggie suddenly had an armful of kid. It was something she had asked for, but it was a bit different actually holding someone. Maggie didn’t have a ton of experience holding kids. For one thing, it wasn’t as if she’d been invited to family reunions after getting kicked out. She had no little siblings or cousins to babysit or hold while the adults enjoyed themselves. It was an odd experience.

It was also alarming. Because Jamie was  _ cold.  _ She was shivering fiercely, she smelled like the trash she’d been hiding in, and she was small and slightly squirmy.

Maggie practically snatched her jacket from Alex and tucked it around the kid. It was clumsy doing it one-handed, but Alex quickly caught onto what she was doing and helped until Jamie was practically swallowed in the oversized windbreaker.

As Jamie relaxed against Maggie’s chest, she got the sense that she, Alex, and Kara had just stumbled into something that wasn’t going to end anytime soon. Not just the case. Murder cases were a part of the job. Perhaps not  _ Kara’s  _ job, but she and Alex were accustomed to them. No, they weren’t going to be able to just hand this kid off to social services and forget about her. Everyone had a case like this. One they  _ needed  _ to keep up with. And Maggie had the feeling that finding a distraught kid hiding in a wet and smelly junk pile just so she wouldn’t get  _ murdered  _ was going to stick with them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm of the mind that Alex, Maggie, and Kara would all be pretty damn good with kids. Kara for obvious reasons. She's pretty much a giant kid herself. Most folks don't give Alex and Maggie enough credit, though. For one thing, Alex had pretty much lived through adopting a kid already. You don't give awesome, heart felt, and emotional advice like a pro overnight. It takes practice, and Alex is badass at it, even if she's less than great at dealing with her own emotions. Others, though? Awesome at it. Maggie's not so different. She's pretty damn observant, and is always open to helping Alex through her problems. Not bad for someone who's supposed to be a 'sociopath.'
> 
> So, yeah. This is stuff I wrote up while I was supposed to be working on something else. Can't guarantee it will be updated with any regularity. This is kind of a spare time, stress relief thing.


	2. Two

Alex watched the girl through the glass. Kara was still with her. After they’d driven to the DEO, Kara had rejoined them again. She’d had to lead the paparazzi following her off to who knows where so they wouldn’t scare Jamie.

Maggie was back at the murder scene. She hadn’t been able to stay for very long. Someone needed to find this kid’s mother’s murderer, and Alex could already tell that this case was getting to Maggie. Honestly, it was getting to her too. Alex wasn’t used to kids. She was good with them, she knew. She had to be after adopting an alien as a sister all those years ago. Kara had been a teenager at the time, but the innocence and naivety weren’t all that different compared to Jamie’s. Alex found herself not even blinking at the superpowers, either. She’d rolled with it at fourteen, and she could adapt now.

Jamie was showing off her powers to Kara. Apparently Supergirl was her favorite superhero. Kid had good taste. Energy kept popping up between her small hands as she tried to lift what looked like a beaker. Alex had no idea how she’d gotten a hold of it, but if she had to bet, the answer was probably Kara. Kara was just as good with kids as Alex was. The only problem was that her sister had no idea how to say no to them.

There was a purple flash, and suddenly Jamie was rubbing at her head as the beaker was only  _ just  _ caught in time by Kara and prevented from shattering on the floor.

Alex chose that moment to walk in.

“That’s probably enough playing for one day,” she said.

Jamie looked up at her guiltily. “Mommy says I’m not supposed to play with them for too long. It’ll hurt my head. Says I gotta be older to  _ really  _ use them.” She looked down to the bed as her lip trembled. “She was teaching me stuff.”

Alex felt a twinge in her chest. She  _ really  _ needed to talk to Maggie. They’d talked about what she had in mind on a basic level. Whether it was something both of them even wanted. How they were going to do it. How many they wanted. But it was one thing to go from talking to actually  _ doing  _ it.

And really, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t started. Both of them had taken classes. Got certified. Alex came from a family that had adopted an alien. Maggie had been technically fostered by her aunt. Both were familiar with the system as a concept.

But Alex wasn’t going to make decisions without Maggie. Especially about something as  _ huge  _ as this. Still, she sat next to Jamie and decided that even though nothing could be decided in this moment, she’d at least do her best to keep the girl comforted.

“Do you know who  _ really  _ taught Supergirl to use her powers?” Alex asked.

Jamie looked up at her, wiping at her nose noisily. Alex tried not to grimace. That would be an adjustment. She wasn’t used to kids Jamie’s age, and was suddenly reminded by how messy they could be. Not that Alex was  _ overly  _ bothered by that. Kids were messy. That was a fact of life. Alex fought aliens as a career. Some of those fights involved goo of varying types, blood, and bodily fluids. She wasn’t squeamish. Still, it was going to be an adjustment.

Kara handed Jamie a tissue. Alex didn’t even notice she had left, superspeed probably aiding her.

“Superman?” Jamie asked.

“Nope,” Alex answered, and kept her voice as light as she could. It wasn’t the time to bring up her issues with Superman and his abandonment of Kara. Because he  _ could  _ have easily taught Kara everything she needed to know about her powers. But of course he was to busy for that…. “I did.”

The way Jamie’s eyes bulged at that information was funny, and Alex chuckled. It was innocent enough not to be insulting. “But you’re human! You don’t got powers!”

“No,” Alex agreed. “But I’m smart. The DEO is smart too. Alien cops,” she explained at Jamie’s blank expression. “We can figure it out and help you, if you want.”

“Alex is the  _ smartest,”  _ Kara agreed with a blinding smile. “She taught me how to hold things without breaking them. How to hug somebody without hurting them. How to not melt the TV when staring at it. She’s the best.”

Alex chuckled at the clear adoration in her sister’s voice. She wouldn’t go  _ that  _ far, but it was nice to know that Kara appreciated all her hard work. Kara had broken  _ a lot  _ of plates while they’d learned the whole ‘holding stuff’ thing. Her mother hadn’t been pleased and Alex had been grounded for the better part of three weeks over that one.

J’onn’s voice interrupted their conversation. Alex hadn’t even heard him come in. “Supergirl, Agent Danvers, I need to speak with you.”

Jamie’s eyes grew large and she picked at the blanket next to her. “We won’t go far,” Alex promised. “Just right outside the door. It’s glass, you’ll be able to see us the whole time. Okay?”

It was clear that Jamie wasn’t exactly pleased, but she seemed mollified that they weren’t planning on leaving her completely alone. She nodded jerkily. “Come back quick?”

“Of course,” Kara said, nodding a mile a minute.

Her sister was practically a kid herself at times.

Alex pulled Kara out by the hand and they followed J’onn. He made it easy for them to keep their promise to Jamie and didn’t take them farther than a few steps from the door.

“Do you know what species she is,” he asked Kara, jumping right in. “Her people aren’t in our database.”

Kara nodded much more slowly this time. “Yes. She’s Is’ae. I haven’t seen them in person for a very long time. Not since my father took me to their homeplanet. They were almost as advanced as Krypton, had mental powers like mind reading and telekinesis, and they were located a good dozen or so lightyears on the  _ other side  _ of Krypton from Earth. I don’t know how she got here. Is’ae are really insular people. It’s weird and worrying that she and her mother are here on Earth. Weirder that her mother is murdered and no one came to get her. Is’ae also make mental bonds with family members and friends. Someone should have sensed her distress and grief and found her. But they didn’t. It’s almost as if they were alone here. Which is even  _ weirder  _ because Is’ae are social people. In many ways, more so than humans.”

Alex frowned. Some of the pieces to this puzzle were coming together, but not quite fitting. “She acted as though her mother wanted her to keep a secret. And said that they were hiding from someone who wanted to hurt them. I think whoever was after them found them tonight, but must not have known about Jamie.”

“But why come after them? Their planet was as close to a utopia as you could get. They are a very peaceful planet, why would someone want to kill them?” Kara asked with a frown.

J’onn crossed his arms thoughtfully. “Are you certain they’re as peaceful as you remember? We’ve been getting reports of an upcoming crime syndicate headed by aliens who possess powers very similar to Jamie’s.”

“I thought we were considering them rumors for now,” Alex said. “No one has been able to confirm any of the reports and sightings, and we didn’t even know which species could do those things until tonight.”

“It’s a piece to a larger puzzle,” J’onn answered. “It doesn’t confirm anything, but I don’t think that this was a simple coincidence. It’s odd that we just happen to stumble upon two aliens who apparently very rarely venture to this side of the galaxy only  _ after  _ hearing rumors of a new criminal group allegedly made out of this same species. I don’t like it.”

Alex didn’t like it either. “Do you think her mother was part of it?”

“It’s possible,” J’onn answered thoughtfully. “It may be the reason she was killed. We won’t know until we investigate further. For now, the child will have to go into protective custody until we are certain she won’t be targeted by her mother’s killer.”

Alex took another look at the girl. Jamie was clutching the blankets on the bed in tight, little fists. She was watching them with wide, still frightened eyes, and Alex immediately knew that she wouldn’t take going off with strangers very well. Alex had always been slightly impulsive when it came to matters of the heart. She knew she didn’t always think things through. She prided herself on being logical and reasonable. It was part of the reason she was so good at her job. Kara was supposed to be the impulsive one of the two of them. Her sister sometimes had to be talked down from decisions or positions before she could get into fights she wasn’t prepared for. Oftentimes by Alex herself.

But, there were times when the roles were switched. When Alex just…  _ jumped  _ in without thinking. Usually when Kara was in danger. Or if she was wooing a certain detective. Sometimes, Alex could scarcely believe that she had proposed to Maggie on a near whim with no ring, and only after they all nearly died in an alien invasion. Sometimes she was in sheer awe that Maggie even said yes.

She watched Jamie in the medbay, looking small, lost, and forlorn, Alex found herself speaking before her thoughts could fully catch up with her.

“We’ll watch her.”

It was silent for the smallest of beats. Kara was gaping at Alex, Alex was honestly gaping a little at herself, and J’onn was watching her closely. Probably reading her mind.

And the only thing Alex could really think about, apart from cringing at the thought that Maggie was going to  _ kill  _ her for this, was that there wasn’t any reason they  _ couldn’t  _ do it. They had the kid talk. It hadn’t ended badly. Honestly, it hadn’t really ended. Both of them had decided on a nebulous ‘someday’ which meant that they  _ had  _ planned to continue the discussion over the next several months. But Alex had found happiness only after Maggie had realized that sometimes life couldn’t just put on hold for a ‘someday.’ Sometimes life just sprang up, sometimes it threatened to end far too soon and the things one wanted to do had been pushed so far back, until it was too late.

Still, she  _ really  _ needed to call Maggie. Alex didn’t want to make this decision without her. They were married, and Alex was  _ pretty  _ sure that this was the kind of thing that one should get with their spouse about.

J’onn snorted next to her. “Call your wife, Agent Danvers. Before you do something rash. I’ll wait to call CPS until you’re finished.”

Alex shot J’onn a sheepish smile before speed walking to the nearest empty room. An office, she couldn’t remember who it belonged to right now. She just had  _ so much  _ on her mind right now, and she could barely hold it together enough to get her call to Maggie up and running.

She didn’t even realize she had been holding her breath until it came exploding out after hearing the terse,  _ “Sawyer,”  _ one the other end. Absently, Alex noted that Maggie had to be distracted if she didn’t notice it was Alex calling.

“I think we should foster Jamie. We’re both in a good spot in our jobs right now, we’ve got our licenses, we make good enough money, Gertrude would love her, our apartment is big enough, we’ve talked about it, and she’s supposed to go into protective custody, and what’s better than a DEO agent, police detective, and  _ Supergirl?  _ Plus, I think she already likes us, and—”

“Danvers—”

“You work with aliens, I work with aliens,  _ Kara’s  _ an alien. I mean, my family literally adopted an alien, so it’s not like we’d be out of our depth, and—”

_ “Alex!”  _ Maggie called out, and Alex snapped her mouth shut with an audible  _ click. _

“Sorry…,” she mumbled self-consciously. “I know, it’s a bad idea, right? We barely just met her. And she probably doesn’t want to be reminded of tonight everyday—”

“Babe,  _ please  _ slow down a little,” Maggie chuckled. “You haven’t given me a chance to think about it. Give me a second.”

That didn’t sound like a flat out ‘no.’ In fact, Maggie’s ‘no’s tended to come out quickly and decisively. Alex felt a bit of hope stirring up in her chest. Which was silly. She didn’t know why she was already getting attached to this kid. They’d just met her today, and Alex didn’t really think of herself as the parenting type. Sure, they’d  _ talked  _ about having kids someday. But that seemed so far off, and indistinct. Alex figured she’d have time. Have time to really think about herself as a prospective parent.

But here they were.

Maggie sighed. “You’ve latched onto her too.”

Alex was seconds from playing it off. Fearing that Maggie wasn’t as into the idea as she was, but she froze before the words could come out of her mouth.

“What? ‘Too?’”

She heard the self-deprecating chuckle over the speaker, and knew that Maggie was shaking her head. “Yeah. ‘Too.’ Do you know how much furniture we’re going to have to buy? Because social services aren’t going to let us keep her for very long if she doesn’t have her own room. Kara’s probably going to have to fly out and do some emergency shopping for us. We can loan her some money. Just make sure she doesn’t go overboard, because the last thing we need is to drown in  _ stuff.  _ We don’t want to overwhelm her, and—”

Alex laughed. Because  _ she  _ was the one who rambled when it got too much for her. It was one of the many things she and Kara had in common. Granted, Kara’s ramble limit was  _ far  _ lower than Alex’s, but Maggie wasn’t much for rambling herself, and it was funny to hear it.

“I’m pretty sure Lena will end up being the voice of reason for us, as well us setting us up with some overnight shipping. I can talk to them after this. Are… are you sure about this, babe? I don’t want to do this unless we’re  _ sure.  _ I know I told J’onn yes until I remembered that I actually had to talk to you, but I really don’t want to do this unless you’re all in too. I wouldn’t be able to do it without you,” Alex admitted softly.

“Ride or die, right?” Maggie asked. “Honestly? This is probably the only way I think we’d ever get a kid. Neither of us wants to deal with the whole pregnancy thing, right? So, that leaves adoption. I always imagined us taking in a queer kid in need, or an alien who was just too… unusual for run of the mill foster parents to know what to do with. We’d be perfect for kids like that.”

They would, and Alex was already nodding eagerly. “I’ll tell J’onn immediately. And get back to Jamie. She hasn’t wanted us far from her, and I don’t want her to get scared again.”

“I’ll be there soon. I’ve just got to tell my captain we’re taking in the kid so the paperwork I’m inevitably going to let pile up won’t upset him too much. Oh, and make sure you get those ribs looked at again. I may have just texted J’onn about them, so don’t think you’re about to go home without at checkup,” Maggie said sternly.

Alex huffed. “Traitor.”

“Hey, I’m thinking of me here, Danvers. How the hell am I supposed to get laid again if you can barely move? We’re getting a kid too, so ‘us time’ is going to be taking a huge cut. Gotta make sure I can capitalize on what we can get as soon as the opportunity comes up. Don’t ruin this for me, babe.”

“Yeah, yeah, Sawyer. I’m  _ sure  _ that’s the reason,” Alex said, rolling her eyes affectionately. “And you keep saying  _ I’ve  _ gone soft.”

“Of course I’ve gone soft for you, Danvers. I wouldn’t name my dog  _ Gertrude  _ for just anyone, you know,” Maggie said through her laugh. “Get back to the kid. We’ll talk more when I get there.”

They said their goodbyes and Alex made her way back to the medbay. Fortunately, Kara was already there, distracting Jamie with stories of her superhero antics. The PG ones, anyway. However, Alex didn’t miss the way Jamie seemed to eye her and relax just slightly when she saw her walk in. She tensed again as J’onn strode through the door once again.

“Agent Danvers,” he started in his sternest voice and Alex tried not to get grumpy.

“I’m  _ fine,  _ J’onn,” she said before he could really get on to her.

“No she’s not,” Kara said evenly. “Three broken ribs on her left side. I was going to tell you, but I got distracted. Did Maggie say something?”

“She texted,” J’onn answered before shooting Alex a glare. “Sit down, Alex. Dr. Hamilton will be here soon for your assessment.”

He strode out, off to deal with some other DEO matter, undoubtedly, and Alex waited until he was gone before really settling into her pout. She wanted Kara and Maggie to get along, but she didn’t want them teaming up  _ against  _ her.

“Did I do it?” Jamie’s quiet and warbling voice cut through her grouchiness like a knife.

“What?” Alex asked, confused before remembering that the whole reason this was even an issue again was because Jamie had thrown her.

“I hurt you,” Jamie said and clapped her hands over her face. “I’m sorry.”

“Whoa, hey,” Alex said and got up stiffly to get back into Jamie’s bed. It was a tight fit with Kara sharing it too. “I’m  _ fine.  _ Just a little bruised up. You didn’t actually do it. Another alien did. Much meaner and scarier than you. You just… might have  _ accidentally  _ tweaked them a little. It’s okay. I could have done the same thing rolling over the wrong way in bed.”

Probably not, they  _ had  _ been on the mend, but Alex wasn’t going to tell Jamie that. She knew with some first hand experience just how badly little alien children with superpowers took to accidentally harming the people they cared about. Kara had cried for  _ days  _ the first time she cracked Alex’s ribs after a hug that had been a tad too tight. It had finally taken a young Alex several days, lots of comfort food, plenty of cheesy movies, and long talks to convince her then weird, little alien tag-along that, no she didn’t hate her, yes she forgave Kara for the hug, and sure they were still sister and always would be.

That had been the first time Alex had said it and actually meant it.

She felt a similar thing for Jamie, now. The poor kid was alone now, just like Kara had been, and the last thing she needed was to feel guilty over an accident. Which meant that Alex was going to have to stop her pouting and actually play nice with Hamilton.

Damn it.

Because, if she wanted to pretend she really was  _ fine,  _ she needed these damn ribs looked at, she needed some painkillers, and she actually needed to follow her doctor’s orders for once. Leave it to another alien orphan to get Alex Danvers to do as she was told.

Maybe she actually  _ was  _ latching onto this kid.

Jamie was looking at her warily, as if she was unsure Alex was being honest. Alex shot her the very best grin she could. It had worked on Kara all those years ago, and she was certain she could get Jamie to believe her now too. She had fourteen years of experience on top of teenage Alex. She’d practically drowned trying to learn how to take care of a baby sister with superpowers back this. This should be a  _ breeze. _

As Jamie smiled shyly back, Kara was giving her a scandalized look as realization widened her eyes. “You  _ liar,”  _ she mouthed above Jamie’s head.

Alex shrugged unrepentantly. Hey, she’d have done  _ anything  _ to get Kara to stop crying back then. It had been depressing, sad, and she could hear the sniffles through her bedroom wall. Eliza had refused to allow Alex to play her punk rock any louder on her stereo to drown Kara out. What  _ else  _ was she supposed to do?

She ignored the glares Kara shot her as Hamilton examined her. Tried not to huff too loudly when Hamilton gave her the prognosis she knew she was going to get all along. Rest and time, because ribs weren’t something one could really cast or bandage. Limited duty, no field work, and a prescription for some painkillers. That was it. She was going to be grumbling at Kara, Maggie, and J’onn as soon as little ears weren’t around to hear, because the three of them were acting like Alex was dying, and it was getting a little ridiculous.

And all of that could start as soon as she didn’t have a kid leaning into her injured side as sleep finally caught up with her. Kara reached to pull Jamie off, but the glare Alex sent her was withering. She was  _ fine  _ dammit. Maybe extremely sore, and it was hard to breath with Jamie sending shoots of pain up and down her body because her head was  _ right  _ on top of rib number three, but she would be damned if Jamie found out she was lying to her by making her move. Because Alex knew a thing or two about comforting lost aliens. Some of them liked contact. She’d tolerated a certain blonde, blue eyed Kryptonian lying in a very similar spot with a similar injury all those years ago. Alex could and would put up with it again.

Maybe she wasn’t so much as  _ getting  _ soft, but always had been. Alex wasn’t going to say that out loud, though. She had a reputation to protect, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First night at home is probably up next. Kind of riding by the edge of my seat here, to be honest. Jamie's mother's murder is a plot point I won't be ignoring. Can't stand endless fluff. Has to be a bit of angst here, tension there, or else it feels like the fluff is a bit meaningless, in my opinion. Well, let me know if you guys want to see anything in particular. I know I'll be including Eliza in this at some point, and I won't be dumping on her. I like her, think she gets far too of a bad rap in this fandom, and I think she'd be super supportive of something like this considering how she took Kara in no questions asked.


	3. Three

Maggie returned to the DEO a lot later than she would have preferred. She hadn’t always been a detective. She used to work a beat. She’d seen all sorts of things in her time as a uniformed cop. Like car accidents. Call her paranoid, but Maggie  _ was not  _ about to stick a kid into her car without a car seat. Nor was she going to allow Kara to fly the kid anywhere. Not that she didn’t trust Kara, Maggie had been getting better about her feelings towards Supergirl. No, it was more about how Supergirl had a ton of enemies in National City. Who's to say Cadmus wasn’t planning to launch some kind of attack against Supergirl this very night? While she just happened to be carrying Jamie at the same time.

Better to be safe than sorry. Maggie was a risk taker, much to her captain’s ongoing frustration, but there was difference in taking risks for  _ herself,  _ and then trying to do the same with others.

It just so happened that there weren’t a ton of general stores open at a time like this. Maggie had to drive in the opposite direction of both the DEO and the police department to find one that was open 24 hours. After that, and Maggie was  _ never  _ going to admit this out loud, she  _ might  _ have taken the time of no less than three employees as they compared the reviews, safety ratings, and general aesthetics of five different child seats. So maybe she wanted to get the kid something that looked badass. Sue her. Maggie thought it was bad enough to be exposed to the degradation of a child seat in the first place. It didn’t have to be ugly on top of that.

Perhaps she was projecting. Maggie  _ also  _ might have been one of the last kids in her grade to get out of the damned thing. The short jokes were never ending.

In the end, she got something black and purple. Black to match her car’s interior, and purple to match the kid’s superpowers. Maggie wasn’t super experienced in dealing with superpowered kids like Alex was, but she figured ignoring that they existed was probably a ‘Huge No’ in terms of general support. Alex had told her of how difficult it was to deal with hiding Kara’s powers and alien weirdness. Back when aliens were still massively feared by ordinary people, and when Kara was still in more danger of the government than any of Superman’s enemies.

Things have changed a bit. Maybe people weren’t  _ as  _ accepting as Maggie would prefer, but they were getting there. Alien amnesty had opened a huge amount of doors and opportunities for things to move forward. It also helped that Jamie very likely didn’t have a Man of Steel out there to make enemies out of crazy people for her. Once they caught her mother’s killer, Jamie wouldn’t have to hide anywhere near the extent that Kara did. Maggie didn’t want to expose the kid to that kind of stress. It left marks on both Alex and Kara in different ways, not all of them very good.

Speak of the devil, she found the both of them in the DEO’s medbay. The kid was with them, clearly asleep, and judging by the pinched expression on Alex’s face she was lying right on her wife’s injured side.

Figures Alex would rather sit in intense pain than disappoint a kid.

The look Maggie sent her had Alex glaring back at her defiantly.

Alex was already talking as soon as she pushed open the glass door. “I’m  _ fine.” _

If Maggie got a dollar for every time her wife said those two words after being injured or sick, she’d imagine she could safely retire, buy her own island, and live the rest of her days out in the Bahamas.

“Really?” Maggie asked and crossed her arms. “Starting to sound like a broken record there, Danvers.”

“Probably because the three of you are freaking out over  _ nothing.” _

Even Kara was shaking her head. “Alex, I can see them from here. They’re not ‘fine.’”

Alex rolled her eyes. “You guys are acting like I’m on my death bed. I’ve had broken ribs before. They just need some time. I’ll be okay.”

Why was it always a ‘life or death’ issue with her? Maggie realized early on that Alex Danvers did nothing in half measures. Which seemed to also include herself. Alex was either going to take care of herself, or she was going to ignore a problem even if said problem threatened to drown her. Maggie just so happened to have made it a personal goal to either teach her wife how to actually take care of herself or do it for her. Even if it threatened to cause Maggie to want to pull her hair out at times.

“No one said you were dying,” Maggie sighed. “We just want you to take care of yourself a little. This doesn’t have to be an ‘either/or’ thing, Alex. Just let us baby you a little and you get the added benefit of getting back to the field a little earlier.”

“Maggie, I appreciate the concern,” Alex started, and powered through the loud scoffs that both Kara and Maggie made, “but they’re broken  _ ribs.  _ There’s no speeding this up. It’s just going to suck for a while. Which means that all this panicking you guys are doing, worrying J’onn, isn’t doing a whole lot of good.”

“I know how broken ribs heal, babe, trust me,” Maggie shot back. “That’s not what has us all over you. It’s your habit of not  _ taking care  _ of yourself. Because, knowing you, you’re going to insist even more that you’re ‘fine,’ find a way out into the field before you’re ready, get into something you didn’t expect because that’s the nature of our jobs, and next thing you know, one of those ribs that you insisted were  _ ‘fine’  _ have just punctured a lung. None of us wants it to get to that point. Better to just get the  _ actual  _ rest and relaxation out of the way so you don’t scare the crap out of us later.”

The medbay’s door opened behind Maggie, letting J’onn in. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Maggie and stared at Alex sternly. “Have I told you how much I approve of Detective Sawyer, Alex?” He asked after a long moment. “Because I happen to agree with her wholeheartedly. You’re on leave for the next two weeks. I don’t want to see you near this place.”

Alex’s eyes widened and Maggie was certain she was about to stand up to protest when she remembered Jamie sleeping like a rock on her side. “What?! I’m—”

“Do not finish that sentence, Agent Danvers. I can read your mind. Not that it even takes that to know you’re lying through your teeth because I also know  _ you.  _ Take this time to settle in with Jamie. She’s going to need a little stability in her life to set some routines.”

“If it makes you feel any better, my captain has got me on half-days for the next couple of weeks too. I still have to work Jamie’s case, otherwise he probably would have sent me on leave too,” Maggie told her.

Kara popped up from the bed, and clapped her hands decisively. “Great! I can help you instead!”

Maggie tried, and probably failed with the way Kara’s excitement dimmed a tad, to hide how disconcerted she was at the thought. “Uh…. I don’t know, Little Danvers. This is a police investigation—”

“Alex helps you all the time,” Kara pointed out.

“And she’s also a trained investigator. I know I’ve been teaching you a few things, but—”

Kara let out a loud snort. “Maggie. Relax. I don’t want to step on your toes in the middle of a crime scene. I’ve learned  _ that  _ lesson at least. No, I’m talking about going after the crime syndicate. That’s the sort of sting Alex would be backing you up in without even blinking. But she can’t do that this time, so that means it has to be me. No way are you going up against telekinetic aliens on your own.”

So maybe Kara was right. That didn’t mean Maggie wanted to admit that easily. “What about James? The Guardian could help me just fine,” she said as she put a hand on her hip and leaned casually.

The sight of Kara’s nostrils flaring indignantly was something Maggie was never going to get tired of. “What?!  _ Pfft!  _ You can’t stand James as the Guardian even more than I do! He gets  _ even more  _ in the way! I’m the one you’ve been teaching about police stuff and—”

Alex placed a hand on her sister’s arm, and rubbed it placatingly. She also shot Maggie a scolding glare. “She’s messing with you, Kara.”

“Man,” Maggie groaned good naturedly. “She was just about to  _ really  _ get into a rant. Why’d you have to ruin it?”

“You know what?” Kara asked with a huff. “Jamie and I don’t need to be here with this rudeness. We’re leaving.” She easily grabbed the kid from Alex’s side and swung her onto her hip like an old pro. Maggie  _ really  _ needed to find out how they made this seem so easy. She felt like she was playing ‘caretaker catch-up.’

“Kara?” Maggie tossed her the keys to her car when Kara reluctantly turned towards her. “Put her in the carseat, please, while I get this one up.” She threw her thumb back at Alex, and ignored the loud grumbling her wife gave at the thought of receiving help.

“I mean it, Alex,” J’onn said for good measure as Maggie helped Alex hobble towards the exit. “Not  _ one  _ step in here.”

The grumbling that followed was rude and just under Alex’s breath enough that Maggie decided not to comment on it. Alex was just on the edge of grumpy. She knew that a part of her wife still marveled at the fact that she had so many people around her who cared for her wellbeing now, but Alex still had some bad habits to break. Best not to push her too much.

They were almost to the DEO’s front entrance when Alex stopped suddenly. Maggie turned to her in concern, and immediately amped up at the sight of how pale Alex had turned.

“Babe? Alex, what is it? Did something shift?” Maggie reached out to gently put a hand on Alex’s injured side, to feel for what she didn’t even know. It wasn't as if Maggie was doctor, but that wasn’t going to stop her alarm.

But Alex easily caught her hand before it could touch her. The grip Alex had on it was tight and bruising.

“Maggie?” Alex choked out.

“Danvers,  _ please  _ tell me what’s wrong. You’re freaking me out.”

“We’ve got to find some way to tell my mom and your aunt that we’ve just taken in a kid.”

The seriousness that Alex said this with was dire, and had Maggie not know Alex’s issues she would have smacked her in the arm for scaring her so badly.

But, she didn’t. Because not only was Maggie aware of Alex’s mending relationship with her mother, Maggie was  _ also  _ very much aware of how hard this was going to be. Not because of Eliza. Eliza was going to be  _ easy.  _ Because Eliza was aware that they were thinking of adopting a kid. She and Alex have been calling each other at least once a week so they could talk more. It’s been over a year since they started. Honestly, Alex was probably blowing this out of proportion. Eliza was going to be great and excited about this.

But, Maggie still found it hard to talk about herself. Even with her aunt. Who was going to be blindsided about this. Because Maggie had been  _ stupid  _ enough not to mention she and Alex had been talking about kids. She thought they would have more time. That they would have taken one in during a much more official process. But Maggie should have known.

She should have  _ known  _ that her life was not nearly that orderly and neat to be able to foster a kid like any other ordinary foster parent. No, their lives were much more like Eliza’s. Just have a random alien girl show up on their metaphoric doorstep to take in. Not that Maggie regretted this. She simply regretted the fact that she underestimated just how  _ weird  _ her life actually was. Her sister-in-law was National City’s most beloved superhero. She and Alex faced off against the weirdest stuff on a weekly basis. Most of the people she talked to weren’t  _ human.  _ Why on Earth did she think she had more time?

Aunt Laura was going to  _ kill her. _

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed solemnly.  _ “Oh.” _

“Okay.” Maggie said slowly. “We can do this. How about we switch? I tell Eliza, and you—”

“Are you  _ insane?”  _ Alex squeaked out.  _ “No!  _ Your aunt’s going to be the  _ hard  _ one! I know we agreed on ‘ride or die’ but that’s too much, Maggie! Too much!”

Well, no one could blame a girl for trying.

At least Alex was aware that Eliza wasn’t actually going to be that bad. Alex was probably freaking out more about the act of actually telling her. With words. Because a flustered Alex Danvers had the tendency to word vomit. Maggie didn’t have the same problem. Usually. She was more of a ‘clam up and change the subject’ kind of gal. Which Aunt Laura usually saw right through.

Maybe she should just write it all down and memorize it in front of a mirror. That way Maggie at least had something to  _ say. _

“Hey, I still haven’t cashed in that favor over Gerdie’s name,” Maggie pointed out, not willing to give up without a fight.

“Nope. Pick a different favor.”

“That’s not how favors  _ work,  _ Danvers!”

So, maybe Maggie didn’t actually plan on making Alex talk to Aunt Laura. That didn’t mean it wasn’t fun to see her doctor-doctor-secret-agent-wife sweat like a nervous teenager. The dichotomy of Badass Agent Danvers versus Adorkable Alex Danvers was still a mystery that Maggie wasn’t sure she was ever going to solve. She loved it.

“Don’t care,” Alex said with a decisive shake of her head. “Besides, admit it, you  _ like  _ Gerdie’s name. It’s grown on you.”

That was beside the point. And Maggie was never going to admit that, anyway.

“Fine,” Maggie said and crossed her arms as she smirked. “If you don’t want to take the bullet for me from Aunt Laura, then I  _ finally  _ get to have one of those damn flash grenades.”

Alex stared her down, but Maggie wasn’t going to budge over this. So she honestly wasn’t going to let Alex actually tell Aunt Laura. Maggie was very aware that some things just needed to come from the source and she wasn’t a coward. That didn’t mean she couldn’t use this favor to her advantage.

Alex bit her lip.

Maggie’s eyes narrowed.

Alex crossed her own arms.

Maggie cocked her head.

Alex’s forehead crinkled.

Maggie went in for the kill. She traced her tongue over her bottom lip  _ slowly. _

Alex crumpled.

“It’s  _ only  _ for the eventual raid on the Is’ae syndicate. When we find them. And you’re with Kara. And  _ J’onn  _ approves of it’s use after you ask him for permission!” Alex said as she rubbed her temples. “God, I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.”

Maggie couldn’t either. She knew it wasn’t about her being dumb local cop. It was more about how Alex was a highly trained secret agent at a level that Maggie honestly couldn’t match. Alex was a badass, practically a soldier. They had different skill sets. Maggie could run a beat and gather informants like no one’s business. Alex couldn’t even come  _ close  _ to the professional charm Maggie could exude. Alex blamed it on her dimples. At any rate, it wasn’t as if she was rated for explosive ordinance. She’d thrown one  _ once  _ for her birthday when she had finally ran Alex down. But using one on a DEO training field was a lot different than using one in a combat situation.

Maggie couldn’t  _ wait. _

“Relax, babe. It’ll be fine. I’m a badass,” she grinned cockily.

“Uh-huh,” Alex rolled her eyes. “Come on. You’re supposed to be taking me home.”

There was more grumbling, but this sounded far more good natured than the last round Alex had partaken in. Maggie could pick out bits of ‘tricked me’ and ‘I hope Aunt Laura roasts you’ but Maggie decided to let her wife have the last word this time. Maggie already won the grenade, she wasn’t about to jinx her luck.

Kara was practically vibrating in the car as they got in. She was taking a picture of Jamie in her car seat and Maggie smiled before a passing thought had her spinning around to face Kara in the backseat.

“Do  _ not  _ post that picture on social media of any kind, Little Danvers,” she said harshly.

Kara blinked at her, surprised by her vehemence.

“She hasn’t told Aunt Laura,” Alex explained. “And  _ I  _ haven’t told Mom. How about you give us a chance to call them before they find out on Instagram? Otherwise the  _ both  _ of us are going to get killed.”

“Really? Give me  _ some  _ credit, guys! I was sending this to  _ Lena.  _ I know you haven’t told anyone yet, we only just found her today, geez,” Kara said and rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of,” Maggie started slowly. “We haven’t really had a chance to get the kid anything. And we’re going to need stuff  _ fast.  _ CPS could stop by at any moment for a snap inspection. We can’t just put the kid up on the couch and call it a night. That’s never going to fly.”

The vibrating Kara was doing actually  _ increased.  _ “Ooh! I know just what to do!”

It was a wonder Maggie caught her before her superspeed could get the car’s door open. “Wait! Hold on! We’ve got some ground rules.”

“Ground rules?” Kara repeated dubiously.

“Yep,” Alex agreed. “Rules. I love you, Kar, but you have a tendency to….”

“Go crazy?” Maggie offered.

“Become over-excited,” Alex decided on and elbowed Maggie. “I’m texting you a list. You buy everything on that list, and  _ nothing else  _ without  _ first  _ getting prior approval from me or Maggie. Take Lena with you.”

“Lena’s probably going to be busy,” Kara said defensively. “Guys, it’s fine. I can do this.”

“Kara,” Maggie said. “Look, we wouldn’t just ask anybody to do this for us. We  _ do  _ trust you. We just don’t want to end up with three different child sized beds in different designs because ‘Guys, what if she wants to sleep in a racecar one night, but wants dream of being a princess on another?’”

“That  _ so  _ wouldn’t happen,” Kara mumbled, but she didn’t sound convincing even to herself if the way she crossed her arms and pouted was any sign.

“I’m sending you money to your account. And I already texted Lena for you,” Alex announced. “She’s planning the most efficient route to hit whatever stores you guys are going to as we speak.”

Maggie snorted. Yep, they picked the right people. Kara’s superspeed and sheer enthusiasm would ensure the kid would be kitted out in toys and supplies in no time. Lena’s organization skills and ability to resist Kara’s pouts would ensure they wouldn’t come home with a mountain of stuff they ultimately wouldn’t need. Perfect plan.

“You guys are the worst,” Kara grumbled.

“Love you too,” they both said in unison.

The car door slammed, but not too harshly. Kara was just pretending to be mad, after all. Finally, Maggie and Alex were left alone with their new charge. Despite the fact that Jamie was currently knocked out and drooling on the edge of her car seat, the silence that enveloped them let Maggie know that Alex had just been hit with the reality of what they were doing the same way she was.

“So,” Maggie said lightly. “Ready for this?”

“Honestly?” Alex laughed nervously. “Kind of? I feel like I am, but then I feel like I’m not. It’s weird.”

It was. And it was similar to what Maggie was feeling. She knew, objectively, that they could handle this. Kids weren’t impossible. If  _ Maggie’s  _ parents somehow managed to get her to fourteen before screwing up, then she should be able to do better than them, at least, right?

She took a good look at the kid in her rearview mirror. It was a better view than the one in the alleyway. Jamie had been dirty and grime covered in that dumpster, and it had been dark. Someone must have cleaned her up in the DEO, and she wasn’t wearing the clothes they had found her in. Maggie wondered if Alex had someone find something for her, or if they had someone buy something. Either way, she was in a simple white shirt and blue jeans now. The light in the car wasn’t much better, but Maggie could actually make out some features that had been hidden under the grime.

Jaime’s mother had been paler than Jamie, though it was difficult to tell whether that was a difference in skin tone or blood loss. Either way, Jamie was a tad bit paler than most humans. She had a single purple stripe that started on the back of both her palms and meandered its way up her forearms and into the sleeves of her shirt. Maggie didn’t know where they ended. The stripes were light, only easily distinguishable to Maggie because she had spotted the same on her mother’s body and knew what to look for. There were also faint markings on the kid’s forehead. Slightly above her eyebrows in medium sized speckles. They followed the lines of her eyebrows and ended at her hairline.

None of this had been easily seen under the filth the poor kid had been covered in earlier that night. Maggie had wondered if she was too young for them, and they came out with Is’ae puberty, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Other than the markings, and glow in the dark mind powers, Jamie  _ almost  _ looked human. She had black, curly hair and, Maggie remembered from last night, gray eyes. Common enough for humans.

Maggie wondered if that was how Jamie and her mother escaped attention from whoever was after them. If Jamie’s mother had obscured those marking purposefully in order to hide in plain sight. Any concealer would do the trick. It was a common enough thing aliens did to fit in. Some of them were trying to run from their pasts, and adopted human lives. Not so unlike Kara.

“I just hope I’m better than them,” Maggie muttered before she shut her mouth with a  _ click.  _ She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

It was silent in the passenger seat, and for the shortest moment, Maggie was afraid that Alex was going to agree with her. But, then she felt her wife’s hand cover her own on her gear shift. Maggie hadn’t even realized she had it in a deathgrip.

“Hey,  _ no.  _ You’re already  _ so  _ much better than them, Maggie,” Alex said softly. “You don’t even have to try. Just being  _ you  _ makes you better.”

Maggie grunted noncommittally.

“It’s true!” Alex pressed. “Maggie, they threw you out on the streets—”

“I know what they did,” Maggie snapped. She didn’t exactly want to relive it.

“I know that,” Alex continued undaunted. “I’m only saying that to highlight just what you’re doing here, babe. You’re doing the exact  _ opposite.  _ We don’t have to do this. We could have easily found another couple or family capable enough to take her in. Clark did it for Kara, we could do the same and we have a lot more resources at our disposal. The DEO could  _ easily  _ do deep enough background checks that we’d have known more about anybody taking Jamie in than they knew about themselves. I think you looked at Jamie and saw a little of yourself in her. And it’s not making you  _ pity  _ her. It’s making you  _ understand  _ her, and what’s she’s going through. And I think you don’t want her to feel like you did. I think you want to do better. Maggie, that already  _ makes  _ you better. Your parents made a choice, and they made an awful one. We’re  _ choosing  _ to take this girl in, hopefully give her a place she can feel safe, and… and you know, maybe start a family. Your  _ parents  _ broke your family. And that’s exactly the opposite of what we’re doing here. You’re  _ better  _ than them, Maggie. It’s not even a contest.”

Another dichotomy. Maggie wondered how her stuttering wife managed to say  _ exactly  _ the right things when she needed her to. Alex often tripped over expressing feelings because she wasn’t used to processing her own emotions. Often pushing them down in favor of everyone else’s. Yet, somehow, Maggie managed to get Alex to learn how to say exactly what she was feeling when it came to  _ them.  _ Maggie didn’t know how she did it, often thought she didn’t deserve to have something like this, but here they were.

Maggie wiped at the bottom of her eyes subtly, not willing to admit she wanted to cry. If she did, then she’d  _ really  _ start, and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with tonight.

“Okay,” was the only thing she said. But Maggie could tell that Alex knew what she really meant as Alex gave her hand another squeeze. She did feel better hearing those things from Alex. From anyone else, Maggie wouldn’t believe them. But, Alex had a way of getting Maggie to believe in herself. It seemed that if Maggie was determined to get Alex to learn how to take care of herself, Alex was equally determined to teach Maggie how to deal with her emotions in return. It was honestly pretty cathartic.

They’d probably end up talking more about this later. Alex wasn’t one to let things fester. She’d allow Maggie some time to process, but Maggie knew that Alex wasn’t about to allow her to believe she could be anything like her parents. But for now, Maggie was tired, Alex was probably exhausted with her ribs, and they had a kid to get home and in bed. Probably their bed until Kara could get back. Because sleeping in a glorified car seat probably wasn’t the most comfortable experience out there.

Maggie started the car, aware that they still had  _ so much  _ to do. One thing at a time. Sleep for all of them, and  _ then  _ probably learning how this was all going to work in the morning.

She was eager and terrified in equal spades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first night at home and meeting Gerdie is probably after THIS. I realized the other night that I forgot to describe what Jamie looks like. Also, Maggie's inner angst about her upbringing decided to bubble up here. But of silly fluff to balance out the angst at the end there, angst that will probably pop up more than once. Aunt Laura and Eliza are both getting calls soon, but no ETA on that as of yet.
> 
> Please forgive me if I am unable to answer comments or update in a timely manner after this chapter. I've got a rude fellow named Harvey pounding on the door in my neck of the woods, and who knows if I'm losing power or not. I've already received the expected summons from my mom. "I really think you need to spend the weekend at home...." God forbid I lose power at my apartment and am unable to get in contact with them. The lecture would probably be a thing to behold. So... yeah. Looks like I'm spending the rainy weekend with the fam.


	4. Four

Gerdie’s deep barks greeted them from the other side of the door. Alex grimaced a little at the fate that awaited them.

“I can go first,” Maggie offered with a grimace.

“And have you collapse under Gerdie _and_ Jamie’s weight?” Alex said with raised eyebrows. Maggie was carrying Jamie again. She seemed slightly out of sorts doing it too. Alex knew that Maggie didn’t have a ton of experience with kids. She dealt with them mostly in a professional setting, which typically meant she was talking to traumatized kids in an interrogation room. Not carrying them as they slept. Still, she wasn’t clueless, and Alex made a mental note that she was taking to this much more naturally than she probably gave herself credit for.

“Screw off, Danvers, I’m not _that_ small,” Maggie grumbled as she tried to unlock the door one-handed.

Alex easily took the keys from Maggie’s hand and hip checked her over. “So you admit it! You’re small.”

The glare Maggie sent her was positively icy. “I did no such thing.”

“Let’s look at the data. One: your feet don’t touch the ground on any barstool I’ve ever seen you sit on. Two: your police jacket, which I’m sure is only about a medium, could fit over two of you and then some. Three: if I let you walk into this apartment first, our crazy dog is going to topple you over like nothing,” Alex held out fingers as she spoke, grinning at her miffed wife.

Maggie held up one certain finger in response.

“That’s not kid friendly,” Alex said with a smug smirk.

“You’re just so proud of yourself, aren’t you?” Maggie grumbled. “Move over, Danvers. Gerdie’s going to go in for the kill on you, and your side isn’t going to appreciate it.”

Here she went again with the ribs. Alex rolled her eyes.

“Don’t even think about it!” Maggie cut her off just as Alex opened her mouth. “If you so much as say those two words that I _know_ are about to come out of your mouth, I’m sleeping on the damn couch.”

Alex mulled that over for a few seconds. Not because she was considering it, but because she couldn’t find where the threat was. “Uh… shouldn’t that threat go the other way around?”

“Nope. Because I happen to know you, Alex Danvers. I know that underneath _all_ that badass exterior you try to put up, secretly, you’re a _cuddler._ Me and Jamie can sleep on the pullout, and you’ll be stuck in that gigantic bed _alone._ All night,” Maggie glared at her to drive the threat home.

Alex _wanted_ to say that she slept alone all the time _before_ Maggie and it hadn’t broken her, but that wasn’t exactly true in the first place. Kara existed, first of all, and her sister was an entire point against Alex on her own. Second, Alex had grown to cherish sleeping with someone else. Well, not _someone._ But Maggie. Her wife was right about everything she had just said, and it disgruntled Alex far more than was probably reasonable.

While Alex was distracted, Maggie got the door open with a crow of success. She pushed through Alex, and ignored the rude mutterings Alex made as Gerdie's overjoyed barks boomed out. The speed in which Maggie moved to prevent Alex from getting through the door first was equal parts impressive, considering that she was holding Jamie too, as well as irritating.

“Gerdie, _Gerdie!”_ Maggie called out as their over-excited dog celebrated their triumphant return. But the jumping and circling soon stopped as Gerdie noticed that Maggie and Alex hadn't come home alone.

The barking had awoken Jamie, and Alex noticed her shyly peeking out from Maggie's shoulder. The curiosity she stared at Gerdie with was palpable, but Alex could also spot a smidge of fear. She wondered if Jamie had ever seen a dog like Gerdie. Or if she's ever seen a dog at all. If her mother had kept Jamie in hiding like the girl seemed to imply, it was entirely feasible that she was fairly sheltered.

At least she didn't seem completely afraid. Gertrude wasn't a small dog. As far was she and Maggie had been able to determine, Gerdie was a pit-lab mix of some kind. Alex had offered to run a DNA test in her lab, but Maggie had swiftly vetoed that idea.

 _“It’s bad enough they nearly put her down, Danvers. Just because she's not the cutest damn dog in the world and people won't see past that! She doesn't need to be a lab experiment on top of that. I don't need to know_ what _kind of dog she is. She's a dog, a damn good one, and that's all that matters!”_

The makeout session that ensued was… well, it was something. Maggie's cool and smooth persona was attractive, but her soft and caring side was a massive turn on. She rarely allowed anyone to see it, and Alex considered herself lucky that Maggie was so open with her.

“Jamie, this is Gertrude,” Alex introduced softly. “Do you want to meet her?”

She left it at that, tone even and with no judgement. Alex wanted to make sure Jamie knew that she had some control. If she didn't want to get too close to Gerdie, that was fine. It was important that Jamie felt safe here, and while Gerdie may be a gentle giant, she was also bulky, loud, and a bit too friendly for her own good.

Jamie's forehead furrowed as she thought hard on the decision. Gerdie’s head was cocked to the side in curiosity. She reminded Alex of Maggie, and it was with great relish when she pointed that out to her wife shortly after taking Gerdie home. It was one of the cutest damn things Alex had ever seen. Maggie hadn’t been too pleased. Something about street cred or something. Alex knew Maggie was badass, but there was only so much her tiny wife could do before inadvertently looking adorable.

“Okay,” Jamie finally said. It was hesitant, but the girl had a stiff upper lip, and Alex was starting to see how she had managed to handle staying quiet in that dumpster for so long. Jamie certainly wasn’t wanting for bravery.

“Let’s meet her together,” Maggie said and knelt down while still keeping a hold of Jamie. Alex grabbed a hold of Gerdie’s collar. Not because she thought Gerdie was going to do something. Oddly enough, their hyperactive dog seemed uncharacteristically still. As if she understood the seriousness of this moment. Still, Alex was hoping to keep that calm going. Hopefully with her right there, Gerdie wouldn’t become overexcited again.

“Hold your hand out, like this,” Maggie demonstrated, offering her hand out for Gerdie to sniff. She got a lick instead, considering that Gerdie already knew Maggie very well. Alex tried not to giggle at the disgusted look that came over Maggie’s face. That lick had been particularly slobbery. “Don’t worry. The slobber doesn’t hurt. It’s just gross.”

Jamie did giggle and copied Maggie. This time, Gerdie did sniff curiously. She stuck her snout right on the back of Jamie’s hand and investigated thoroughly. Alex knew first hand how much Gerdie’s sniffs could tickle and Jamie laughed softly. The stripe on the back of her palm started glowing softly, and--just like with Kara--wisps of energy jumped from Jamie’s hand and onto Gerdie.

The connection didn’t last as long as it had with Kara. It ended within moments, and the effects were immediate. Gerdie gave Jamie’s hand a _huge_ lick, much to Jamie’s delight. Okay, so maybe _this_ was the cutest damn thing Gerdie has ever done. Alex could tell that Maggie agreed with her this time, the way Maggie’s eyes were lit up just gave it away. This kid seemed to charm everyone she met, and Alex didn’t mind it one bit.

The transformation was almost staggering. Jamie had been shy, hesitant, and scared for so long today. Not that she didn’t have damn good reason for that. But it clashed delightfully with how she acted now. She practically jumped out of Maggie’s arms and threw her arms around Gerdie’s neck. Which, of course, their over eager dog _loved_ and gave plenty of face kisses to express her excitement.

Maggie chuckled and stood up. Both of them happy to leave Jamie and Gerdie to do their thing, which seemed to me lots of pets and hugs. It was official.

Dogs made everything better.

“That went well,” Maggie said with a shake of her head. She was just as amused as Alex.

“Yep. Told you Gerdie would love her.”

“Gerdie’s like Kara. Both of them would love _anyone._ Especially if they have food,” Maggie snorted.

The door swung open behind them. Both of them reached automatically for their holsters, hands on their pistols, when they relaxed.

“Just us!” Kara exclaimed. She was single handedly carrying a massive package. “And I’ll have you know that I’ve disliked _plenty_ of people who have offered me food.”

“Probably because they offered you kale, or something. I’m pretty sure Lena’s the only person who’s gotten away with _that,”_ Maggie muttered.

But Alex was more concerned by the package. “Kara, put that down! Come on, I know you can barely keep the ‘S’ underwraps, but this is getting ridiculous!” She scolded. Alex _tried_ to take a portion of the load, but Kara only brushed by her with an eyeroll.

“Alex, I have _x-ray vision._ And I can hear through walls. No one was out to see me carry this up. Besides, you guys were the ones saying that you needed this stuff as soon as possible. I’m just trying to get you set for tonight.”

With that, she set the package down, which Alex could now see was a child’s bed, and supersped her way to her and Maggie’s guestroom. In a blink, the full sized bed that had already been in there was now in their living room, while the box disappeared.

“Kara!”

The voice was muffled on the other side of the front door. It sounded half exasperated and half amused. Alex reopened it to reveal a harried looking Lena carrying what were obviously much lighter bags and boxed. Alex grabbed several to relieve the poor, abandoned woman. Honestly, Kara could turn into a mess sometimes.

“Thank you,” Lena huffed. “I told _someone_ to wait for me, but she insisted that she go on ahead. It’s been an ordeal just trying to convince her not to buy out entire toy sections.”

“Lena!” Kara’s form blurred into existence in front of them. She was holding instructions to the bed, and her forehead was crinkling. “You’re here!”

The glare Lena leveled at her sister went unheeded, and Alex truly feared that Kara might not be sleeping in her own bed tonight. Unfortunately, Kara seemed oblivious to the irritation she was causing.

“Yes, Kara. I’m here. Minutes after you. Having had to climb three flights of stairs because I was carrying too many packages for the elevator. And opened each and every door by myself.”

The salt that Lena was throwing out was apparently too subtle for Kara to pick up. Because she beamed, took all of the packages Lena was carrying and set them down on random surfaces around the apartment, and handed Lena the instructions that had apparently been stumping her.

“Awesome! This is in Finnish, and I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

“I don’t know Finnish either, Kara,” Lena sighed.

Kara nodded. “Of course! But, you’re the smartest person we know, a great engineer, and probably the best person to build this thing. I don’t think you even _need_ the directions.”

Just like that, Kara _somehow_ managed to diffuse Lena’s grumpiness. It was amazing. And not the first time Kara almost made her girlfriend angry, yet just as obliviously managed to comfort her in almost the same breath. Alex could be just as hopeless at noticing feelings, but Alex didn’t also practically _ooze_ the sunniness and charm needed to effortlessly win everyone she knew over. Kara had no idea how devastating her smile could be. It was honestly a blessing that her sister wasn’t a supervillain.

A look of determination bled over Lena’s expression, Kara having inadvertently challenged her to build this damn bed. But, before she could march into the guest room, now Jamie’s room apparently, a small voice stopped her.

“Hi,” Jamie said shyly. She was almost hiding behind Gerdie. Who, for her part, was completely relaxed with her tongue lolling out. Gerdie knew Kara and Lena very well. Alex was about 90% certain that Lena snuck some kind of organic, grain free treats to her dog when Alex wasn’t looking. Alex had found a mysterious wrapper one day that Maggie had refused to own up to. And the only other person health conscious enough to feed Gerdie like that was Lena.

It wasn’t as if Alex was against the health foods in principle, but dammit, she wasn’t going to have a fat dog. Gerdie had specific feeding times with properly sized portions. Treats weren’t as strictly scheduled, but they were tentatively penciled into Gerdie’s diet as needed. How was Alex supposed to keep up with Gerdie’s health if she was receiving contraband treats?

“Hello,” Lena greeted warmly. She knelt down to Jamie’s level, putting a hand out to hold Gerdie’s face back. Lena Luthor might like Gerdie more than she put on, but she wasn’t about to take licks to the face. No matter how much Lena actually liked her. “I’m Lena.”

Lena held her hand out, polite almost to a fault. Jamie regarded the hand with confusion, reminding Alex with that the girl might not have been on this planet for very long. That, or she’s just never met a human who insisted on shaking hands. Both scenarios were equally likely.

Still, Jamie copied Lena and held her own hand out. Lena grinned easily and shook Jamie’s hand with a sort of official air. Jamie giggled at the silliness of it, because Lena was wearing a goofy grin that dissipated any seriousness the action might have had.

“I’m Jamie,” Jamie said, much louder this time. Alex wondered at her sudden confidence. Perhaps she was finally relaxing, and realizing that everyone around her had her best interests at heart.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Jamie,” Lena said.

Jamie looked back and forth between Lena and Kara. Her eyes were narrowed thoughtfully. “Are you and Supergirl together? Like Alex and Maggie?”

Lena blinked, and glanced at Alex to make sure Jamie was supposed to know Kara was Supergirl. At Alex’s nod, Lena chuckled softly. “She can’t seem to hold a secret for the life of her,” Lena muttered. “Yes,” she spoke louder for Jamie’s benefit. “Kara and I are together.”

And that was that. Jamie nodded and went back to petting Gerdie. It reminded Alex that kids often asked questions simply to learn something. They didn’t have ulterior motives like adults often did. It was apparently not at all a big deal to Jamie that she was with two gay couples. It made Alex wonder at what kind of culture she came from. Or what her mother had taught her before she was killed.

“Are you going to build the bed?” Kara asked as she dragged in more bags and boxes. Still apparently not caring that she might be spotted. Alex had to grit her teeth and remind herself that Kara _was_ doing her a favor. Still, once she got Kara alone, Alex _would_ be giving her another lecture about the merits of subtlety. It was a talk she and Kara had to have at least once every three months or so.

“Yes, Kara,” Lena said as she stood up again. “Why?” Her eyes had narrowed again as she stared Kara down. “You aren’t planning to leave me here, are you?”

The way Kara looked away and fidgeted with her hands answered that question.

“No! I mean, it would be the smart thing to do, right? You could finish that, and I could pick up the last things on the list--”

“A list your sister gave to _both_ of us because she knows you’re probably going to come home with more things than she asked for? One that we got the essentials off of, and can leave the rest for the morning _purposefully,_ so that we could _both_ help Jamie settle in? That list, Kara?” Lena asked as she crossed her arms.

“Maybe?” Kara ventured cautiously, finally noticing that Lena didn’t seem very pleased with her. “I won’t buy too much!”

“Kara, sit down and show Jamie some of the toys you’ve bought before you get in trouble,” Maggie said with an eyeroll. “Seriously, this is great. You don’t have to ditch Lena to go overboard and prove you’re the cool aunt.”

Maggie froze at what she said, and Alex didn’t fair much better. Fortunately, neither Kara nor Lena noticed the slip and went off to do their respective tasks. Jamie seemed excited to see what Kara and Lena had picked up for her, and that left Alex and Maggie with the privacy needed to process what Maggie had just implied.

“I-I didn’t…. Uh…,” Maggie stammered uncharacteristically.

But Alex just gathered her wife in a hug, enormously pleased by the slip up. Kara and Lena competing to be the ‘cool aunt’ sounded pretty awesome, if Alex had anything to say about it.

“So, ‘cool aunt’ huh?” Alex said softly. “Sounds pretty awesome.”

“Really? I just… you said you wanted to foster her, and we haven’t talked long term, but I was thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to do this for… for awhile,” Maggie stammered out nervously.

Alex kissed her firmly. Honestly, sometimes she couldn’t believe she was lucky enough to be married to this woman. Maggie was amazing, and so much more than she gave herself credit for.

“Babe, ‘awhile’ sounds like the best thing ever,” Alex said, beaming much like Kara did when presented with her favorite potstickers.

They kissed again, but Alex soon felt a small hand tapping her thigh. Jamie seemed to have snuck away from Kara and was peering at Alex and Maggie curiously.

“Hey, kid,” Maggie greeted. “What’s up?”

“Why do you do that if you can’t bond?”

Alex wasn’t too surprised by the question. Kara had asked _plenty_ about all kinds of things, due to the culture shock she experienced when she first came to Earth. She had a feeling she was going to be fielding a ton for the foreseeable future. Probably not as many, or as for long as Kara had, simply due to Jamie’s age. The thought depressed Alex a little. Jamie was _so young._ And that fact hurt for a variety of reasons. It was awful enough to lose her mother, but Alex wondered if Jamie even understood what death really meant. She was right at that age where that concept would actually become real. And even after that, Alex was perfectly aware that because of her age, Jamie was never going to be familiar with her original culture like Kara was. Kara had found so much comfort in honoring her roots as she learned to navigate a completely different culture. Jamie’s memories would in all likelihood fade. She and Maggie knew nothing of Jamie’s people, and Kara wasn’t aware of much more than the basics.

She worried the one thing she and Maggie wouldn’t be able to properly honor was where Jamie came from. It wasn’t something Alex wanted to ignore. Jamie was an alien, it was something that was going to stick with her for her entire life. It was something Alex wanted to make _positive._ And that meant instilling confidence in Jamie about not only _who_ she was, but _what_ she was too. Because Alex was very aware that some people didn’t look at this the same way. They saw _different_ and thought ‘weird, bad, or other.’ It was what happened to Kara, because Kara hadn’t been able to pick up being human in an instant, and it pissed Alex off then. And it would piss Alex off now with Jamie when she got old enough.

Unfortunately, Alex wouldn’t be able to find an answer for this problem now. She’d try to track down _someone_ who knew who and what being Is’ae was. Perhaps Alura’s hologram could help. Regardless, there was one question she could answer.

“Because we love each other,” Alex told her. “Humans kiss each other when they love each other.”

It was a simplistic answer, and one that didn’t get into sexuality or other topics, but Jamie was five. Alex figured she should keep this PG.

Jamie’s brow furrowed. “But how do you _know_ you love each other? You can’t feel it without a bond.”

Alex wondered if Is’ae bonded a lot. First there was the trust test thing with Kara, followed by Jamie’s apparent mental investigation of Gerdie. Alex’s inner scientist had a lot of questions, but also recognized that a five year old, freshly traumatized, displaced child probably wasn’t the best subject for her questions. “We talk. We tell each other, or do things for each other. Humans have to express our emotions on the outside. No going into each others heads to find out what we’re thinking.”

It was the best way she could think of to explain this. Alex realized that she didn’t exactly have a frame of reference for what mind reading must feel like. This was probably going to be like describing color to a blind person. Except Alex was the blind person in this scenario.

“How do you know it’s right? That nobody lies?” Jamie asked with a cocked head. Great, now Alex had to deal with Maggie, Gerdie, _and_ Jamie doing the head-cock-thing. It was like their version of Kara’s pout. She was going to have a hard time saying ‘no’ to this kid, she could already tell.

“Eh,” Maggie took up the slack this time. “Humans do all kinds of things without thinking. Body language, how your body acts, can give away if someone is lying. Once you learn what to look for, or know someone well enough, you can tell when someone is lying.”

Alex laughed as Jamie scrunched her nose up. “That sounds hard.”

“It can be,” Alex conceded. “But a lot of times it really isn’t. It just takes practice.”

Jamie shrugged, apparently deciding that humans were backwards in this instance. Kara popped up from the kitchen, finally, with what looked like a variety of snacks. Figures her sister would disappear to get food. Alex made a mental note to make sure if Kara was to ever babysit that her kitchen was fully stocked. Not that it ever wasn’t. One was never certain when a Kryptonian would decide to crash at one’s apartment. The whining that Kryptonian _will_ go on and on about is catastrophic and horrendously annoying if said kitchen ever dares not to have snacks on hand. Alex will never forget that first summer she had moved out and offered to have Kara stay over for a visit. She very nearly found a way to strangle her invulnerable sister.

“Hey, there you are!” Kara cheerily exclaimed.

“Nice to know you were watching the kid, Little Danvers,” Maggie deadpanned. “A+ babysitting right there. Top notch.”

Kara gave Maggie an unimpressed look. “I knew where she was! Superpowers, guys, remember? I’m being _polite._ Humans have a nasty habit of getting all uncomfortable if you imply that you can hear them through walls. I knew where she was the whole time, listened to the entire conversation you just had, and overheard Lena curse at the bed while I was at it. I think she’s almost done. Her cursing-to-building ratio increases the closer she is to finishing a project.”

Well. Maybe Kara was more observant than Alex gave her credit for. Maggie too from the amused snort she gave. “Alright, fair enough.”

“Good,” Kara said with a single nod. “Want some snacks, Jamie? I know _I’m_ starving.”

“You’re always starving,” Alex pointed out while Jamie took off for the table as Kara began throwing out a snack spread that would rival a Super Bowl party.

“See, _I’m_ nice enough not to mention _all_ the stuff I overhear with the superhearing, yet _you_ have to always imply something less than nice when eat. _Rude.”_

“What exactly do you overhear?” Maggie asked with a smirk that wasn’t remotely innocent. It had Alex getting nervous. “Because that’s not exactly a card you want to play here, Little Danvers. I’m pretty sure that’s the kind of trump card _I_ want to play.”

Kara’s face was turning just as red as Alex suspected hers was turning. She was feeling awfully hot. “Maggie,” she said warningly.

“What?” Maggie asked. “I’m just asking a question. For clarity’s sake. Want to make sure we’re all on the same page here. See, Jamie, this is how humans or any species without mind powers talk to each other. Gotta make sure the communication is clear and open. Don’t want to get anything mixed up, right?”

Jamie nodded seriously as Maggie wore her _very_ best solemn expression. It wasn’t at all convincing.

 _“Okay,”_ Alex said forcefully. “I’m sure Jamie gets the point. Let’s keep this PG, _babe.”_

Maggie held up her hands placatingly, and Alex sent a glare at Kara for good measure. After all, Maggie hadn’t _started_ it. She’d ended it, but that was beside the point. It seemed that while these two had managed to carve out a peace with each other, they still managed to push each other’s buttons from time to time. It kept Alex on her toes, and occasionally brought on a headache.

“Dam….arn thing is finished,” Lena said awkwardly from behind them. Her eyes flicked to Jamie for the barest of moments at her near slip. Alex didn’t hold it against her. She was fairly certain she and Maggie were going to have to start a swear jar to curb their own habits around their new charge. This _had_ been sudden. She was a secret agent, Maggie was a _cop._ Neither profession was known for producing people with the cleanest mouths.

Kara blurred for a split second, trading her snacks for several children’s books. “Whoo! We can--”

 _“We_ can get going,” Lena said as she took the books from Kara’s hand and handed them to Maggie. “And _they_ can get to their first night together.” When Kara deflated a bit, Lena was quick to continue. “I’m certain we’ll get a turn when we inevitably babysit. Not to mention all of the ways we’re going to spoil her when we’re unsupervised with her.”

“Oh geez,” Maggie muttered under her breath.

But Lena succeeded at perking up the perkiest person in National City. Kara was back to smiling in no time as she dropped a kiss to everyone’s cheek, even Gerdie, and practically dragged Lena out of the door, because ‘we can finish the list, Lena, come on!’

Turns out Kara was right about Lena all along. The woman was a saint.

But Kara and Lena’s quick exit suddenly left her and Maggie alone with the kid the had spontaneously taken in, and Alex realized that she didn’t know a _thing_ about bedtime.

She had a feeling that this crash course in parenting was only beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a bit of their first night here. Next up probably a bit of bedtime, first morning, family calls. That's the general plan, anyway. Don't want to promise when I can post next. Honestly this is faster than I had expected. I wrote a good third of this chapter on a goddamned touch screen. I HATE doing that. I'm very spoiled, folks. I type most of my work out on a fancy mechanical keyboard, and once you go to cherry switches, you never, ever, EVER, want to go back to shitty plastic bubble keyboards. You wouldn't believe the speed you can get to with a mech keyboard.
> 
> Yeah, I ended going back to my place to find my mini-mechanical keyboard, went through my Box of Random Wires to find the damn USB to mini-USB dongle I have lying around to connect this bitch to a tablet because typing on a touch screen is bullshit. What's ALSO bullshit is learning the layout of this keyboard, which is actually pretty damn nice, but its layout is different from the fullsized I normally use, and you won't believe the number of times I've accidentally used the damned keyboard shortcut to delete lines of crap I've typed up. The undo button is a sanity saver, let me tell you.
> 
> I've gotten questions on my state during the hurricane. Unfortunately, my event is just starting. I live in a county south of Houston. My parents' house is on high ground, we're not going to flood in the house itself. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about my town. The rain isn't our problem. It's all the water that's going to drain down the rivers from Houston. All that stuff you're seeing on the news right now? It has to drain somewhere. Which is likely going to end up in my county. Evacuating is not so easy when the storm is literally stretching out to entire swaths of the state. Texas is FUCKING HUGE. This storm is unprecedented. The single evacuation route my county got already was taking water on it. My parents worried about getting stuck in gridlock over night as the water threatened to rise more than it already has. The places we normally go during hurricanes have been evacuated themselves. It's crazy. We should have been given the mandatory evac order sooner so our jobs would let us go, but that's an issue we'll likely take to our town's officials later....
> 
> Like I said, though, we're on high ground at the house. If all else fails, my grandparents live five minutes down the road, and their house is on even higher elevation and we can go to them. We'll be okay. I'll try to post to my Tumblr regularly (same username as this account), and answer comments. My town seems to have realized that hardly anyone here has followed the mandatory evac order (since it came so damned late) that they're leaving on the utilities for as long as physically possible. Power should hopefully stay on.


	5. Five

The kid was in bed, and Maggie and Alex were left to actually getting her to sleep. She was just outside Jamie’s room, fidgeting with her hands nervously. Alex was with the kid, telling her some story or another. Maggie wasn’t certain. Even Gerdie was in the room with them. It seemed that Jamie had made a brand new best friend with their dog, and Gerdie agreed. It was funny seeing the small kid, in her small bed, but with Gerdie’s gigantic and bulky body resting next to her protectively.

“You okay?” Alex’s voice startled her. She was right in front of Maggie now, and Maggie could spot the kid peeking around Alex at her curiously.

“Yeah,” Maggie muttered. “Just… you got this, right? I can look over Jamie’s case again before bed, and--”

“Maggie,” Alex interrupted softly. Maggie could barely stand to look her in the face. Alex’s tone was soft and gentle, and she  _ knew  _ her wife was about to tell her something full of feelings and emotions and heavy mushy things that Maggie wasn’t good at dealing with and preferred to ignore.

“I mean, the kid likes you, and I’m sure she’d rather--”

Alex grabbed both her hands. “Maggie, look at me, please?”

Reluctantly, Maggie did as she was told, and could see her wife’s soft, wide, and warm eyes. It was almost too much to take. “You’ve been  _ great  _ so far. You shouldn’t doubt yourself so much.”

She was just saying that. Alex was her wife, she had to be nice.

“And I’m  _ not  _ just saying that.”

How did she do that?

“I know you, Maggie Sawyer,” Alex said with a small smile, repeating Maggie’s earlier words. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. Who got this kid talking to us in the first place?”

“That’s different,” Maggie said quickly. “I know how to talk to crying kids. I know what to do when they’re afraid. But this? Being normal? I’m not so good at.” She laughed bitterly. “It’s not like I had a good example of parents in the first place.”

“Maybe not,” Alex said thoughtfully. “But I know that you were taken in with someone who  _ was  _ kind to you. And I think you picked up on that a lot more than you think you did. Maggie, you don’t have to be perfect, or amazing, or awesome at this. We’re both going to have to learn how to take care of a kid.”

“Yeah, but  _ you’re  _ amazing and perfect at it,” Maggie pointed out. “I’ve been watching you with her all night. You’re a pro at this, Alex.”

Alex’s brows rose in surprise. “Is that what you think? Babe, I’ve been playing this by ear this whole night! I barely know what to do with a kid Jamie’s age. If she were thirteen, this would be like riding a bike. But she’s not. I’m  _ so  _ scared I’m going to do something that’s going to scare her even more than she already is. But I also know that if I  _ don’t  _ do anything, that’s going to happen no matter what. That’s just what we’re going to have to do, Maggie. We’re going to have to decide whether we want to leave her alone to handle…  _ everything,  _ or we can take our experiences, our lives, and what we know, and help her. And I  _ know  _ that you’re so much better at that than you know. Just try with me. If we keep doing that, keep trying, we’re already doing so much better than if we’d done nothing at all.”

Maggie sucked in a deep breath. Alex’s words were inspiring, but beyond that, Maggie knew that she couldn’t and shouldn’t be a huge baby about this. If  _ she  _ was scared, Maggie didn’t want to know how frightened Jamie must feel. She was essentially getting taken by complete strangers. Maggie at least was able to move in with her aunt, someone she knew, and who knew her, and was able to adjust to spending more time with a known entity. But Jamie? She was pretty much like Kara. Dumped onto strangers in a choice that was made for her. She couldn’t just sit here and avoid the kid. What if Jamie thought she did something wrong? Maggie could remember a time when she had tried her hardest not to be a burden on Aunt Laura. Practically took up the job of part time housekeeper. It hadn’t been until Laura sat her down and told her in no uncertain terms that Maggie was supposed to be a  _ teenager  _ that Maggie had finally relaxed.

“Alright,” Maggie finally said, putting her game face on. “What kind of books do we got?”

Alex handed her several children’s books with a bright smile. Maggie went through her choices carefully. She didn’t know a  _ ton  _ about kids, but she was aware that they had a tendency to latching onto things for a good long while. Movies, TV shows, books. The  _ last  _ thing Maggie wanted to risk was reading Jamie some book she couldn’t stand and the kid ends up insisting that they read the damn thing every single night. Which Maggie  _ would  _ but her sanity would end up hating her. Better to just avoid the problem in the first place.

“Here’s something,” Maggie said triumphantly. She flipped through the pages and skimmed a bit, and was pleased by what she saw. Something about a princess saving the knight from the fire breathing dragon in a switch of fate. Kickass.

She handed it over to Alex.

“Volunteering me, huh?” Alex asked with her nose scrunched.

“Yep. I’ll sit with you guys, but I don’t think I’d be too great at reading out loud,” Maggie said and shuddered. Sure, she was determined now to be there for Jamie, to put aside her issues and fears for the kid, but that didn’t mean she was going to bore the poor kid to death with her reading.

Alex rolled her eyes, but she spun around just the same. Jamie was rubbing her eyes, but she was stubbornly shaking herself awake every once in awhile. Typical kid behavior. Knocking her out with a story should be a piece of cake.

“Want to hear a story?” Alex asked. Maggie noted that Alex didn’t mention the word ‘bed’ in any way whatsoever. Probably for the best.

Jamie perked up a little, but the energy she had while meeting Gerdie was much more subdued and didn’t last for long. She had to be exhausted. “Okay.”

“Awesome,” Alex said as she sat down. She had to lift Gerdie up to make room, while Maggie took a spot on Jamie’s other side. She flipped to the first page. “‘Once upon a time, there was a beautiful--”

“You gotta use a voice,” Jamie interrupted suddenly.

Alex paused, and Maggie could see the consternation that was peeking out behind her eyes. “A voice?” she asked.

“Yeah. Everybody has voices in a story,” Jamie explained as if this was a fact of life. “Even the… the nar-- uh, the guy that tells the story.”

“The narrator,” Alex corrected automatically. But then her eyes widened. “Uh….”

Maggie could tell that her poor wife was at a loss. Alex was much softer and sweeter than she liked to pretend that she was. She  _ could  _ be silly, but her brand of silliness wasn't quite up there with ‘storybook voices’ for each and every character. Kara would probably break them out without a sweat, and suddenly Maggie wished Lena hadn’t kicked themselves out.

Jamie’s lip was threatening to lower into a frown. She wasn’t pouting, that would have almost been easier to deal with. No, Maggie could tell the poor kid was threatening to become legitimately upset. As if this small bit of normality that Alex and Maggie were failing to deliver was threatening to shatter the small peace that Jamie was trying to carve out for herself after what had to be the worst day of her entire life. It was horrible to see.

So, Maggie did the  _ only  _ thing she could do.

She snatched the book from Alex’s surprised hands and cleared her throat, pitching her voice much lower. “Once upon a time….”

She had no idea how long this went on for. Maggie just sort of got into it. It was surprisingly fun to do. She simply picked out and imitated voices of her friends and acquaintances. The princess got Lena’s regal, steady way of speaking. The knight was Kara’s Supergirl’s voice. There was a difference, she had been a little surprised to notice. Kara tended to pitch her voice a little deeper, more pronounced to seem more heroic. The dragon go her closest approximation of J’onn’s deep voice. She went on and on like that similarly.

In fact, Maggie got so into it, that she didn’t even notice when Jamie fell asleep. She ended up finishing the whole book and closed it, only to find that the kid she was entertaining was conked out, and she was instead reading to an enthralled Alex. Her wife’s jaw was dropped in sheer shock, and it had Maggie glancing away self consciously.

“Whoa, hey,” Alex said and placed a hand on Maggie’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to make you embarrassed. “That was… that was  _ awesome!” _

Well, that was the last thing Maggie expected to hear. She knew that Alex was never going to make fun of her for something that made her feel so self conscious, but that didn’t mean Alex wasn’t thinking Maggie was a huge dork. Jamie’s question about lying and how someone can tell suddenly felt extremely relevant. Not that she thought Alex was  _ lying  _ to her, but that didn’t mean her wife wasn’t going to try to make her feel better while simultaneously thinking she was acting silly.

“No, that was just….” Maggie trailed off, face reddening.

“Amazing?” Alex finished for her. “I’m serious, that was great! You had Jamie completely sucked in! You had  _ me  _ sucked in! I’m telling you, Maggie, you’re  _ so  _ much better at this parenting thing than you give yourself credit for.”

Again, Jamie’s question came popping back into Maggie’s mind. This time, though, Maggie’s own answer came along with it. Alex was staring right into Maggie’s eyes, she was open, earnest, and she was smiling brightly. If she was lying, she wasn’t giving any sign whatsoever, and Maggie knew of Alex’s tells.

“Really?” Maggie asked hesitantly. Much more hesitantly than she would have liked. If she were honest with herself, Maggie  _ wanted  _ to be good at this. She wanted to help Jamie, and the thought that she could fail at this was harder to swallow than she ever would have expected.

“Yeah! I mean, apparently I’m not cut out for storytime, but you? Who knew Maggie Sawyer could voice act? What was that, Lena’s voice?”

“And Supergirl’s,” Maggie added in a blushing mumble.

The grin Alex gave made Maggie think that her wife was filing that little tidbit away until Maggie wasn’t quite so sensitive about it. Not that Maggie blamed her. If she had been told that she was going to use  _ Supergirl’s  _ likeness in anything whatsoever about a year ago, she probably would have scoffed.

“Shut up,” Maggie said with a shy grin. “I don’t even want to hear it.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Alex said with a wide grin. “Just didn’t expect you to throw Kara in there.”

“Hey,  _ Kara’s  _ never been the issue.”

“Yeah, yeah,  _ Supergirl’s  _ been the problem. But,  _ I  _ think you’ve become a bit of a fan of Supergirl. I think she’s finally managed to win you over, Detective Sawyer,” Alex said smugly.

“Now, I don’t know if I’d go  _ that  _ far. She’s  _ improved.  _ I am now… ambivalent towards Supergirl. She’s alright,” Maggie said with a shrug.

They both got out of the bed, not willing to disturb Jamie’s sleep. Once the door was closed behind them, Alex continued with a shiteating grin.

“Sure, Sawyer. Whatever you say. We’re just gonna pretend that Supergirl isn’t your new favorite superhero.”

Maggie scoffed, but they could both tell that her heart wasn’t in it. “Whatever. The  _ only  _ thing I’m gonna say is that between the two of them, I would pick Supergirl a million times over the Guardian. James is a great guy. But I can’t  _ stand  _ him on, near, or even breathing  _ towards  _ my damned crime scenes. Kara is at least  _ finally  _ listening to me.”

They continued to bicker as they got ready for bed. If there was one thing that never changed from the moment Maggie met Alex on that airport tarmac, it was the back and forth they constantly had going on between them. Before they even started dating, Maggie’s fellow officers gave her hell over how much Alex could drive Maggie up the wall. Apparently they knew Alex was Maggie’s future wife before she did.

As Maggie and Alex, predictably, cuddled--her wife truly  _ was  _ a cuddle monster--Maggie thought about all the new things she was going to have to learn how to do. She thought of how she was as a kid. She thought of crustless sandwiches, skinned knees, and all sorts of things. Maybe Alex was right. Maggie was doing okay at this parent/guardian or whatever thing than she ever would have thought she could be. And that only made Maggie want to keep Jamie more than ever.

Suddenly, even more so than earlier, Maggie realized that she was looking her future right in the face. If she and Alex could keep Jamie, if there wasn’t some random relative ready in the wings to take her into their care, they would be  _ lucky  _ to take in a kid like her. They were lucky to have even been able to take her home tonight. Maggie was well aware of how slow and lumbering the foster system could act. And, if they eventually decided to, should they decide they wanted to adopt a kid, that would take even  _ longer. _

Jamie was sweet, precocious, and a joy to look after. They would be lucky to keep her, beyond lucky.

“Maggie? Alex?”

The whisper was only  _ just  _ audible, and Maggie sat up suddenly. The kid was cautiously poking her head through the crack in the door. She was crying again, and Maggie felt her stomach drop. She gave Alex a gentle slap on the shoulder to wake her up.

“Hey, kid,” Maggie whispered. “What’s the matter?”

“Can’t sleep,” Jamie said, playing with her fingers and avoiding their faces. “I… I want my mommy.”

Well, that was a hit to the heart. It’s not like Maggie didn’t expect it. She remembered wanting her mother for a long time after she was kicked out. It hadn’t been a rational wish. Her head had known that her mother no longer wanted anything to do with her, but that hadn’t prevented her heart from wanting,  _ wishing,  _ for her to wake up from her nightmare. This kid was probably in a similar spot.

“I know,” Maggie answered softly. Surprisingly, it didn’t come out tritely, like how many people had spoken to a much younger Maggie. She remembered wishing if only those people had stayed silent instead of lying or giving her empty words. But Maggie had lived through something like what Jamie was going through. Alex too, with her father. They could at least get what Jamie was feeling. Hopefully they could help her in a way other people couldn’t. Help with that crippling sense of loss.

“Want to sleep with us?”

She wasn’t sure what got her to offer it. On one hand, anybody who has ever been a kid could probably remember climbing in bed with their parents during a thunderstorm or after a nightmare. But that wasn’t what Maggie had been thinking of. She remembered so many people, Aunt Laura included before she could figure out just what Maggie had needed back then, trying so hard to make her feel better about what happened. Telling her it would be ‘okay.’ That her parents would ‘come around.’ But that hadn’t happened. And when it didn’t, it almost hurt more than getting thrown out in the first place. Getting false hope had been almost as cruel as her original trauma. Jamie’s mother was dead. She wouldn’t be coming back. There was nothing Maggie could  _ say  _ to make this kid feel better, to bring her mother back, or to make the pain go away.

But hopefully she could show Jamie that she at least wasn’t alone.

Slowly, almost fearfully, Jamie approached the bed. It was just a hard sight all around. The kid was brave, there was no arguing it. Sure, she was afraid, but Maggie knew better than most people that just because someone was afraid, it didn’t mean that they couldn’t push past that fear and chose to be brave. To keep moving forward, to move on past that fear. Jamie had been doing it all day. Maggie wondered when the kid would hit her limit. It hadn’t happened yet, but Maggie could still remember the day she had cracked. When she had lashed out, angry at everything around her because it felt like she just wasn’t in control.

She still remembered feeling terrified that she had messed up everything with her aunt.

But that had been a teenager’s reaction. Maggie had no idea how Jamie would act once everything finally came crashing down. It had Maggie almost waiting with bated breath for the day that happened, and worried her that she might not handle it in the way Jamie needed her to.

For now, though, the kid eventually made her way to the bed. Maggie threw the covers back and picked her up easily. The kid was light. It made Maggie worried that she hadn’t been eating enough. Once they could figure things out and get a little settled, Maggie was going to suggest they get her to a pediatrician. The DEO was nice and all, but Maggie would feel much better if a doctor that actually studied children’s medical health could get a look at her. A doctor familiar with kids  _ and  _ aliens. Damn. That might be harder than Maggie expected….

She got Jamie settled in the middle of the bed, and much to Maggie’s surprise, the kid latched right onto her. She snuggled right onto Maggie’s chest and wrapped her arms around Maggie’s neck.

Oh.

Well.

This was nice.

Alex soon followed, pulling both Maggie and Jamie to her and being the big spoon. It made Maggie wonder if this could be something they’d do after every nightmare, monster under the bed, and bad storm. Not that she wanted Jamie to be scared, but this struck her as something so… so  _ normal.  _ Something  _ families  _ did everyday. She marveled at it. She, Alex, and this kid were acting like a little makeshift family. And maybe it was too early for them to officially be an actual family, there was still some bonding, some grieving, and some living for them to do.

Hopefully that would come with time.

As she started to drift off, Maggie sleepily realized that she could see a lot better than she should be able to. Light was glowing softly in the room. A purple light that Maggie was beginning to associate with this kid. After that, an odd feeling came over her. A tingling feeling was traveling up her arm, almost as if Maggie had fallen asleep on it. But it hadn’t been that long, Maggie knew she hadn’t fallen asleep yet….

An even weirder feeling came over her. A sense of anxiety fell over her, one that Maggie felt was… well, alien.

It hit her like a truck then.

And at that realization, the glow faded a bit, and the anxiety receded. It was as if someone had poked at her, and then pulled back as they were startled. Except the poke wasn’t on the arm or shoulder, but in her  _ head.  _ Maggie forced herself to relax. It was weird, but it wasn’t the first time she had went through a mental connection of some kind with someone. She  _ had  _ taught someone English through lip-to-lip contact, and that had also involved a bit of mental touching as well. The experience had been odd then and it was odd now.

But odd didn’t have to mean bad. This was just something that was literally alien. It was apparently how Jamie’s people communicated with each other, and Maggie was determined to go through a bit of discomfort to become used to that for her.

The anxiety was fading, but the light had gotten brighter again. When Maggie concentrated, she could feel that Jamie was becoming less afraid, and more… content? It was hard to tell. Almost as if she and Jamie were speaking different languages. Maggie could catch the gist of what was happening, but she had a feeling that Jamie could probably pick up way more in this ‘bonding’ than she could.

All Maggie could do was guess at what was happening. She didn’t want to interrupt the moment and ask Jamie what was going on, because that might just make the kid afraid that she had overstepped. Maybe they’d have to have a talk about asking people before bonding with them, but Maggie wasn’t upset about this herself. And maybe  _ that  _ was what Jamie was picking up on. Maggie’s acceptance and efforts to relax throughout this process.

Again the light started to fade, but this time Maggie was sure that it wasn’t because she was accidentally spooking the kid. The sleepiness Maggie had already been trying to succumb to doubled, and slowly the touch in her mind faded bit by bit, until it was finally dark in the bedroom again.

Well then. That had been an experience.

Not a bad one. It hadn’t been painful or scary. It had just sort of… happened. Maggie mulled over what she felt about it. On the one hand, if someone had asked Maggie even a week ago if she wanted someone in her head and looking at what she was feeling, she would have said ‘no.’ But on the other, now that it had actually happened, it felt… good. Not in the sense of losing some of her privacy, because Maggie knew she valued her privacy, but because she was able to help this kid feel that much better just by being… herself.

Hopefully she could learn or ask Jamie how to keep some of her thoughts to herself. There were dark parts to Maggie that she didn’t want anyone to see, let alone Jamie. But… Maggie could do this again if she could figure out how it all worked. Clearly this was something Jamie did on an almost instinctual level. She couldn’t just ask the kid to cut it off completely because who knew if it was something Is’ae had to do for their mental development or whatever? There was so much Maggie didn’t know. So much Alex and even Kara didn’t know. It made Maggie nervous.

For now, though, it was probably best to get some sleep. One day at a time, they’d figure it out, and maybe help this kid heal a little in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First night complete. With a first mental bonding with Maggie. Maybe they'll grow closer and be able to share actual thoughts through it eventually. Until then, morning will be there soon, and Maggie and Alex still need to inform the rest of their family and friends about their newest addition. Currently churning out these chapters rapidly because I've got nothing to do besides this. Not that this isn't something I'm enjoying. I'm just marveling at the fact that I have no work, no Steam, nothing but this tablet and keyboard, my phone, and actual notebooks and pens should we lose power. Gonna be doing a shit ton of writing for the foreseeable future. If there is one thing that is bothering the crap out of me, it's that I can't make an em dash with this keyboard because I don't have a number pad. The keyboard shortcut, should anyone not know and want to use an em dash instead of the dumb '--' thing, it's ALT+0151 on Windows. Since I can't do it, might as well spread it around. What's worse is that mobile Google Docs doesn't have an Insert menu for special characters, which is the super annoying, long winded, manual way to insert an em dash. But I have to be all garbage-y and use a double dash. It's hideous and bothers me at every conversation interruption or mid-sentence clause. I'm going crazy, guys.
> 
> I'm now at the grandparents' house. We've decided to wait out the flooding here. After noon tomorrow, there's not going to be any way out of the area through the roads. They will be flooded through. We have plenty of food, water, and supplies to last quite some time. Just craziness all around. I'm currently watching people rescue others in Houston with commercial dump trucks. Unbelievable.


	6. Six

Alex awoke as sunlight creeped over her face. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and sat up, careful not to disturb Maggie. Maggie and…. A muddled memory flashed through her mind. Hadn’t Jamie…? She looked down, and sure enough, Jamie was cuddled tightly to Maggie. Her wife had both arms wrapped around Jamie and was sleeping with her mouth open. Both of them looked adorable, and Alex was unable to resist taking a quick picture. Too bad she couldn’t post it yet, there were still a few people they needed to tell.

Speaking of which, Alex figured now was as good as ever. She looked down at her phone with consternation, almost not wanting to do this. It wasn’t that she didn’t  _ want  _ to tell her mother. Alex just wasn’t sure what she was going to say at all. This sort of thing was always hard for her. Habits died hard. She and Eliza were so much better than they had been, both actually able to have conversations that had nothing to do with either Kara or work. That had taken some time and effort on both their part over the past year, but they had finally carved out a real relationship between them.

Given all of that, it still wasn’t easy for Alex to think over the words she was going to use to tell her mother about Jamie. It was one thing to tell her that they wanted to possibly foster a child in the near future, but a whole other thing to actually do it, and do it on such short notice. Alex wasn’t so great at telling Eliza important news. She tended to drink when she had to give her mother news. Such as when she came clean about the DEO, and the first time she tried to come out. Her engagement had gone much better, mostly because Alex had been drunk on love instead of wine, and just blurted it out.

Perhaps that was the direction she needed to take this time. Just blurt it out. It wasn’t that Alex wasn’t happy or excited. She just wasn’t as ecstatic about this news as she had been with her engagement. She couldn’t be. Jamie had only come to them because she was suffering through a personal tragedy. There was nothing to celebrate there. She was happy that Jamie was here with them now, but also grieved the fact that the poor girl had to go through all this in the first place.

And maybe that was something her mother knew all about. Eliza loved Kara just as much as she did Alex. She was glad to be Kara’s adoptive mother, but Alex also knew that her mother didn’t celebrate the fact that Kara had to lose her entire homeplanet in order to be a part of their family. Alex and her parents had to make the best of a horrible situation, and they had. In so many ways, she and Maggie were doing the exact same thing Alex’s parents had done over fifteen years ago.

With that, Alex finally tapped her mother’s contact. The phone rang, and with each ring, Alex braced herself for anything.

“Hello?” Her mother’s sleepy voice came through the speaker. Sheepishly, Alex realized that maybe it was a little early to be calling.

“Hey, Mom,” Alex said quietly, going out into the living room to let Jamie and Maggie sleep for a little longer.

“Alex,” Eliza said, surprised. “Are you okay? Kara and Maggie are okay?”

Yeah, this was definitely a little early. Most of their weekly talks were in the evening, after Alex got off from work. Any time outside of that time was usually emergency calls to Eliza to keep her in the loop during various injuries she and Kara might have suffered. After  _ one  _ time Eliza had called while Alex had been pulled from duty after a nasty fight, she and Kara had been lectured into promising to tell Eliza when they were injured more often.

Maggie had been included in Eliza’s lists of people to be concerned for shortly after she and Alex started dating. Sometimes Alex wondered if her mother liked Maggie more than she liked Alex. Sometimes even  _ Kara.  _ It was surreal, but it wasn’t something Alex would change in a heartbeat. Maggie deserved to have people care for her. She hadn’t had a long list, and Eliza seemed to have spotted that fact only months into Alex and Maggie’s burgeoning relationship. If her mother wanted to overcompensate on Maggie’s behalf, Alex wasn’t going to argue. Maggie seemed to preen under the attention. It had taken some time for her guarded and defensive then girlfriend to adapt to the Eliza’s mothering, but she soon grew to relish it as Alex feigned jealousy.

“Yeah, we’re all fine, Mom. It’s okay,” Alex said quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to call so early. I just couldn’t wait. I… I have something to tell you.”

She fell silent after that, taking a deep breath to brace herself for just blurting it all out.

“Everyone’s okay?” Eliza asked, making sure. She sounded almost suspicious, and Alex wondered if she was about to get Eliza on her case about her damn ribs too. It seemed  _ no one  _ believed Alex when she said she was fine. Which she was. Fine. Probably best not to mention them. Alex said she’d tell Eliza about  _ serious  _ injuries. This wasn’t serious.

“Yes. This isn’t about that. Maggie and I… we might have… accelerated the ‘kid discussion,’” Alex said hesitantly.

Eliza seemed to mull that over for a second. It hadn’t taken her mother long to realize that Alex tended to hedge important news. She was slow and lumbering in any kind of sudden announcement she needed to make.

“‘Accelerated’ how?” Her mother asked evenly. Patiently.

“Well…,” Alex started. “Maggie and I were working a crime scene last night. Murder victim, alien,” she listed off. It was easy to allow her professionalism to take over. “We found the victim’s small child on the scene, hiding in a dumpster. We think she’s probably around five years old. She didn’t have anywhere to go, Kara says she belongs to species that was on the  _ other  _ side of Krypton. Apparently very far off from Earth, and they don’t tend to leave their territory. Maggie and I have taken her in for now. I mean, we’re credited foster parents, we’re both open to aliens, Kara’s been great too, we’ve scrambled some furniture and supplies for her, Lena’s helped with that too, and--”

“Alex, sweetheart,” Eliza cut off, and Alex realized bemusedly that she had started rambling again. “I think that sounds great. Do you know how long she’s going to be with you?”

“Oh, uh…. Well…. We’ve decided, you know, if Jamie wants it too, that if there weren’t any surprise relatives to take her in, that this would be a more… permanent thing,” Alex said haltingly.

“Oh,” Eliza said after a moment.

“I know it’s sudden, but we’re ready. It’s been great so far. Not  _ easy,  _ but Maggie and I are figuring it out. You should see her, Mom,” Alex chuckled. “She didn’t think she’d be any good at this, but she’s amazing. Storytime was awesome last night, she had voices for all the characters and everything!”

Eliza laughed softly. “That sounds great, Alex. I think you and Maggie will be great parents.”

That bought Alex up short. Not that Eliza thought she’d be good at this. Her mother had been more open with praise since apparently realizing just how her criticism had been affecting Alex over the past year. It was just surprising to hear someone say the ‘p’ word out loud in context with Alex and Maggie.

“I can come over, if you like,” Eliza offered. She seemed to sound almost… nervous, eager? With a start, Alex realized that if this whole thing worked out, Jamie would be Eliza’s first grandchild. It was so…  _ odd  _ to think of her like that, but it made Alex almost giddy.

“You want to meet her?” Alex asked. “I could probably use the help,” she admitted. “Maggie still has to work half days because of Jamie’s case, but J’onn’s practically kicked me out of the DEO, even though I’m  _ fine.” _

“You’re ‘fine?’” Eliza asked flatly. “Alexandra, what happened?”

Alex cringed. She said too much. “Nothing, Mom. It’s okay, I’m fine, just as I said.”

“Are you actually, physically,  _ medically  _ fine, or are you Alex’s version of some sort of fictional definition of the word?”

“Really? You too? Why does everyone always act like I can’t decide how I’m feeling? I’m--”

“Currently pacing in either the living room or kitchen, instead of resting, and haven’t yet taken your medication?” Eliza guessed shrewdly.

Alex paused, mid-pace, looked around the living room she was indeed standing in, and realized she had a hand pressed absently to her side.

“No…?”

“Uh-huh. Alex, I’m afraid your habit of playing off injuries is well known. I seem to recall a few surfing injuries you failed to tell me about immediately. We’re just concerned for you. There’s no reason to try and handle this on your own when you have so many people who want to help you. Humor Maggie, Kara, and J’onn. They care about you, and  _ want  _ to help you. You have a family, and this is what a family is for. Would you want Jamie to pretend she was fine?”

Alex couldn’t believe that she was being lectured by her mother right now. And that it was  _ working. _

“No…,” Alex answered, almost sullenly to her own embarrassment. “I’m getting my pills  _ now,  _ Mom.” She made her way to the kitchen and almost snatched her prescription bag of the table with a scowl.

“Good.”

“So,” Alex continued after she dry swallowed a couple of pills. This was by no means her first time taking painkillers. “When can you come out? You might have to stay with Kara, we turned our guest room into Jamie’s room.”

“Well, I think you got your work ethic from me. I’m certainly not wanting for vacation time; the university has been begging me to use some. I can probably come out as early as a few days from now,” Eliza said thoughtfully.

The relief that Alex felt at that was palpable. Maggie was off today, but she’d soon be back to work until the early afternoons. And, yes, Alex would  _ probably  _ be fine, but this was awfully fast. Alex didn’t want to mess this up. Honestly, out of all the people Alex was close to, the  _ only  _ people who had any experience whatsoever with small children were J’onn and her mother. Having at least one of the close was going to be a lifesaver.

“That sounds great! I can call Kara today to let her know. So… uh, any advice before you get out here?”

It was silent for a moment; Eliza probably gathering her thoughts. “Did you know Kara lashed out at me, once?”

Alex wasn’t able to reign in her surprise. “Kara? Our Kara? The same Kara who’s  _ always  _ been as sweet as possible to you?”

“Yes, our Kara,” Eliza chuckled. “Perhaps ‘lashed out’ is a little strong. This happened just after we were told your father died. I knew Kara was mourning too, she’d just lost  _ another  _ parental figure. Except she didn’t think she was allowed to grieve him, that her feelings weren’t as important as ours because she didn’t know Jeremiah as long as we did. When I tried to tell her that her feelings were just as important as ours, that they mattered, she told me that I wasn’t  _ really  _ her mother, that I never would be, and that she wanted to be left alone.”

“Ouch,” Alex winced in sympathy.

“It had hurt, but not as much as I would have thought. I knew that she was hurting far more than I was. And to be fair, your sister realized what she said immediately and felt  _ horrible.  _ She burst into tears and ran off. It took me some time to convince her to let me into her room. Even more time after that to convince her that she was allowed to hurt and feel angry, and that pushing it down would only cause her to explode again.”

“Where was I at during all this?” Alex asked in confusion. This wasn’t a story Kara had ever shared with her.

“Oh, I’m sure surfing or off with Vicky. You didn’t spend too much time at home immediately after what happened. I think it was too much for you.”

That sounded familiar, and very true, now that Alex remembered. It wasn’t a time she enjoyed thinking of often. She had practically ignored Kara and her mother for nearly a month. After that, when she realized what was left of her family was mourning just as much as she was, Alex did her best to reconnect to them. It worked like a charm with Kara, the became closer than ever. With her mother… not so much. That was the beginning of their hard times. Alex has never been so glad that they’ve moved past that.

“Well, at any rate, my advice to you is to make sure this poor girl is allowed to feel her  _ real  _ emotions. Don’t try to avoid her mother, go at her pace, and make yourselves open to whatever she wants to talk about. I made that mistake with Kara, and it’s something I’d rather help you avoid if I can. Jamie’s recently gone through a loss. She might just act fine for a little while, but it’s probably going to hit her soon enough, and the last thing you want her to do is bottle her feelings. She might not react the same way Kara did, Jamie is very young, but she will probably end up pushing boundaries and testing you eventually. Just make sure you’re prepared for that, and you’re patient when this happens. You also don’t want her thinking you’re about to send her away,  _ that  _ was another long conversation I’ve had with Kara before…,” her mother trailed off ruefully.

Alex realized more than ever before that her mother was going to be an invaluable resource. She had years long experience with taking in not only an alien kid, which Alex had already been thinking about, but she also had experience with getting a child through loss. Or at least teaching a child how to  _ cope  _ with loss. Alex knew better than most people just how much hurt Kara still had over the loss of her family, people, culture, and  _ planet.  _ That wasn’t something she could just ‘get over.’ But, Alex also realized that, without their family, Kara might have grown up  _ very  _ differently and with a much different outlook on the world.

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind, Mom. Maggie and I don’t want to ignore where she came from or what happened to her,” Alex said.

“I’m glad to hear that. You and Maggie should be just fine, Alex. You’re so extraordinary at everything you do, because you  _ care.  _ I know you think Kara is a hero with a massive heart, but you’ve always,  _ always  _ had one of the strongest hearts I’ve ever seen.”

Alex was going to have to end this call soon, lest she start crying over the phone.

“Thanks, Mom,” she cleared her throat as quietly as she could.  _ “Ahem,  _ ah… I’ll see you soon, right? Call me when you get your ticket so we can set some more concrete plans.”

“Of course. I’ll talk to you soon, Alex. Buy Jamie something for me. I’ll transfer some money to your account.”

With that, her mother hung up, and Alex was certain she was about to receive some absurd amount Eliza would later refuse to take back after Alex buys something  _ modest  _ with that money. Perhaps this was only the beginning of the spoiling.

She put her phone down and turned to make some coffee. Only to come face-to-face with Jamie, hesitantly staring at her from the bedroom door.

“Hey!” Alex greeted warmly. “You hungry?”

Why not offer her food? It was the way to Kara’s heart, and from the way Jamie was eating last night, they might just have another high metabolism alien on their hands.

Jamie nodded shyly, and gave her a small grin. She squeaked in surprise as Gerdie bumped into her from behind. Apparently Gerdie had joined them last night, though she had to have stayed off the bed. Alex hadn’t seen her when she’d gotten up. But Gerdie  _ definitely  _ made her presence known now, having heard Alex, and knew that mean one thing.  _ Food. _

Apparently it was breakfast time for everyone.

“Wanna help me feed Gerdie first?” Alex asked with an eye roll. “If we don’t get her taken care of, she’s gonna get  _ all  _ in the way.”

As if she understood her, Gerdie made herself perfectly known by nosing Alex’s leg insistently.

“Okay,” Jamie agreed with a wide smile, staring at Gerdie with clear amusement.

“Alright,” Alex said and moved to the pantry. She pulled out the dog food bag and turned back to Jamie with a faux serious expression on her face. “So, the secret to getting Gerdie a good, long life with us is feeding her properly. There are a  _ ton  _ of horrible, junk filled, dog food brands out there. Gotta give them something they’ll like, but without gross things to dogs like  _ grain.  _ That’s like eating nothing but corn for us. All day, every day. No meat,  _ good  _ veggies, or even  _ dessert.  _ Horrible.”

Jamie’s face scrunched up in disgust. “There are good veggies?”

Right. She  _ was  _ talking to a kindergartener. “Focus, kiddo. Gerdie actually likes the occasional veggie, and they’re not all bad.”

She scooped up Gerdie’s portion and handed the measuring cup to Jamie once she finished shooting Gerdie a dubious look.

“Pour that in her bowl for me, please,” Alex said and pointed to Gerdie’s bowls. “I’ll get us started on some pancakes. Ever had blueberries in your pancakes?”

“What are pancakes?” Jamie asked curiously as Gerdie waited, shockingly, patiently for Jamie to pour her food.

Huh. Well, looks like Alex was going to be introducing Jamie to some Earth food today. It was oddly reminiscent of Kara and potstickers.

“You’re gonna find out today,” Alex said with a smile. There was no exclaims of shock or surprise that Jamie was missing this bit of Earth culture. She was an  _ alien.  _ Of course she was going to be unfamiliar with some very staple human experiences. Besides, that was something a jerk, teenage Alex had learned not to do very quickly. It had only made Kara feel self-conscious and acting like a kicked puppy.

Jamie hovered behind her once Gerdie was loudly eating on the other side of the kitchen. Alex could feel the kid staring at her back. When she took a glance at Jamie from the corner of her eye as she gathered ingredient, Alex noticed she was fidgeting with her hands. It was clear Jamie had no idea what she was supposed to be doing right now. Not really comfortable enough to go walking around the apartment. Hopefully Alex could change that.

“Want to help?”

And the best way to do that was to help her feel comfortable with  _ them.  _ Once that happened, hopefully Jamie would burst out of her shell and really show them her personality.

She stopped her hand fidgeting, but was staring at Alex in surprise. “I’m allowed? Mommy didn’t use the stove. We ate frozen stuff.”

Definitely sounded like a diet Alex was familiar with before she and Maggie started dating. Not that Maggie ate much better than Alex did. Maggie was a cop, working weird hours--they both were to be honest--and it wasn’t until they had gotten together that they decided to learn how to cook together. So, Alex didn’t judge. Maybe Jamie’s mother didn’t have the most time to cook while on the run from the person who would eventually catch up to them.

_ “Only  _ with me or Maggie,” Alex answered, and looked Jamie in the eye. She wanted to make this rule clear. “The stove can burn you if you’re not careful. Or tall enough to use it. Gotta wait some years before you can do this alone.”

Jamie nodded solemnly, as if noting a new fact of life she was learning. Alex wondered if setting rules would always be this easy. Probably not. Considering Alex’s own childhood. Specifically teenagerhood and college life. If this kid ended up anything like herself as she got older, she might just give Alex a heart attack.

“Here, wanna stir the batter?”

They went on like that, Alex handing Jamie some simple things to do, such as adding the blueberries to the batter when it was ready. She knew from Kara that anything they did together would help Jamie feel included. No need to make this overly complicated, and there was other things she could do with Jamie later to make her feel even more involved.

Kids were messy. Alex remembered noting that from last night as she comforted a much more teary-er Jamie. This was no different. Somehow, Jamie ended up with batter smudged on her cheek. Alex figured she had a little batter thief on her hands.

“It’ll taste even better cooked with butter and syrup,” Alex chuckled.

Jamie shot her a sheepish grin, but Alex was quick to steal a taste of the batter herself. It was pretty good, and she didn’t want Jamie to feel  _ too  _ badly over this. After all, any time she and Kara baked cookies, there was far,  _ far  _ less cookies on the pan than the package insisted were inside.

“Geez, Danvers, leave some batter for the actual pancakes,” Maggie said teasingly as she snuck a quick kiss to Alex’s kiss on the way to the coffee machine. “Right, kid?”

Jamie giggled. “Right!”

Alex gasped loudly. “Traitor!”

She dove for Jamie and began tickling her relentlessly. Staple Danvers bonding behavior, and it worked like a charm this time. Jamie roared with laughter even as she squirmed away and hid behind Maggie. Peeking from behind Maggie’s legs, Jamie stuck her tongue out at Alex as that all too familiar glow of light illuminated her irises and Alex suddenly found phantom tickles going up and down  _ her  _ stomach.

“Hey! N-no p-pow-ers!” Alex choked out as she gripped her stomach. “Th-that’s  _ cheating!” _

“All’s fair in a tickle war, Danvers” Maggie said sagely as she sipped her coffee, cool as ever and flicking through notifications on her phone.

“Go-gotta fl-ip the… the pancakes!” Alex gasped out. “Truce!”

“What do you mean  _ ‘truce?’”  _ Maggie asked incredulously. “Kid, you better not settle for anything less than unconditional surrender, you’ve got Alex on the ropes here. No mercy.”

“No mercy!” Jamie repeated mischievously.

Apparently they were going to teach this kid how to be a little tickle warmonger.  _ “F-fine!  _ I surrender!”

The tickling stopped immediately, and Alex quickly flipped the pancakes as she caught her breath. Once she turned back around, she was sure to send an unrepentant Maggie a sharp glare.

She was also trying to ignore the sharp stabs of pain going up her sides. Jamie’s powers actually hadn’t hurt too badly, the touches were more like air. It was the damned laughing that did her in. Alex never thanked her mother’s nagging any more than she had in that moment. She was certain she’d be hurting  _ a lot  _ more than she was right now. Still, she was nursing her injured side, and Maggie was now watching her in concern.

“Okay, I’ve been sitting on my a-- _ butt  _ long enough this morning. Sit down and I’ll plate us up,” Maggie ordered as she started to scoot Alex to the nearest chair.

Normally, this was the part Alex would insist she was ‘fine,’ but the call she just shared with her mother had her biting her lip and swallowing that word back down. It very nearly choked her to do it, but not only was Alex more determined to learn how to allow people to help her, but  _ damn,  _ did her side ache and she didn’t want to alarm Jamie. Alex  _ had  _ started a tickle fight, after all, and it was practically a tickle fight war crime to start one that couldn’t be fought on both sides.

Maggie was aware enough to have Jamie’s pancake buttered, syruped, and cut. And her wife thought she was  _ bad  _ with kids. Alex was going to have to remind Maggie just how awesome she was everyday until she believed it for herself.

It was an adventure to watch Jamie trying her first blueberry pancake. She speared one piece, peered at it dubiously, peeked at Alex and Maggie to make sure they weren’t staring at her. Both of them were trying their hardest to nonchalantly eat their own breakfasts while watching Jamie from the corner of their eyes. All while trying not to burst into laughter at the same time. After she watched them both take in a few bites of their pancakes, Jamie frowned and carefully placed her piece in her mouth. She chewed slowly, and her eyes widened with both surprise and delight. Soon enough, they had a kid shoveling pancake into her mouth like it was going out of style.

Alex had very fortunately made an entire stack of pancakes. Never did know when there was a hungry, bottomless pit of an alien around to heat one up as a snack. Now it seemed she and Maggie would have  _ two  _ hungry aliens on their hands. Well… the DEO paid shockingly well for a government job, and Maggie was a shrewd investor.

As Jamie started in on her second pancake, Alex really started to believe that maybe they could figure this out. Get everything together and have many more morning like this. For years.

She couldn’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've never been one to hate on Eliza. She gets a lot of hate I don't think she deserves. I've gone on long ass rants on this topic on my Tumblr, in fact. But, to make a long ass story short, I believe that she's made some mistakes, but every interaction she's had with Alex in the show after that first Thanksgiving have been nothing short of positive or an attempt to fix some of those earlier mistakes. I think it's high time we cut the lady some slack.
> 
> I also read a metric ton of fics that like to make Eliza this absentee, mourning, single mother and Alex had to pick up the slack. That's... really weird. Kara goes out of her way to constantly mention how amazing Eliza's always been to her. Welcoming her into the Danvers family as a second daughter. I don't know about you guys, but that seems awfully like an indicator that Eliza actually put in some time and attention to Kara.
> 
> Hurricane update. No flooding here yet, going a bit cabin fever-y. Typing endlessly. Trying to prevent World War Cat. My cat and my parents' cat are not... getting along. My cat would've been fine. But the family cat is an old, ornery, grumpy old lady. She set hostilities the first time they saw each other, and my cat decided she wasn't going to be taking too much shit after that first night. They've been hissing and swiping at each other ever since.
> 
> Except when they hunker down together under one of the beds when the dogs are inside. It's like... solidarity in the face of the unknown or something. These two are something else.
> 
> Yeah. I might be going crazy here. Just a tad.


	7. Seven

Maggie was back at the crime scene. She wasn’t sure if she missed something, because nothing was adding up. Despite the fact that there was an actual murder weapon left behind, there had been no signs of fingerprints or any other forensic traces of the murderer on the weapon. It was almost as if the perp hadn’t touched the knife at all.

Flashes of Jamie’s powers popped into Maggie’s head, and she closed her eyes in frustration. There wasn't  _going_ to be anything on that damn knife because she was dealing with a telekinetic alien. For all Maggie knew, the perp ninja threw the thing with his mind. No need to worry about leaving the weapon behind if it wasn’t going to give anything away.

“Dammit,” she gritted out.

“What?” Harris, her on-off partner, asked curiously. Maggie preferred to either work alone, or with Alex. She wasn’t the best working in teams.

“We’re after an alien with mind powers,” Maggie muttered. “We’re probably not going to find anything here.”

“Mind powers?” Harris asked, alarm taking his tone up a notch. “What do you mean mind powers?”

Another reason Maggie didn’t enjoy working with Harris, beyond her personal hang-ups, was that the man was a coward. This was the Science Division, working with the weird, odd, and, well frankly, _alien_ was part of the job. Cowering like a spineless idiot at every mention of said weirdness was not only a waste of time, but highly annoying.

“Yeah, Harris. Mind powers. We’re investigating an alien murder most likely perpetrated by an alien. Sometimes these aliens have superpowers. _These_ aliens were dealing with have mind powers. Telekinesis and telepathy, to be exact,” Maggie said as she looked around what was left of the garbage in the alleyway.

“Bunch of freaks murdering each other in the streets,” Harris muttered. “So long as they don’t target humans, I don’t get why--”

Maggie stood up slowly from kneeling in front of a trashcan. She could feel her face heating up already as she turned to look at the asshole blustering behind her.

“Why we have to do our jobs? Do you know what division you work in? Why we’re even here?” Maggie asked quietly.

Harris shrugged callously. “I figured we’d be arresting the fuckers. I mean how many of us do you think they’ve killed since invading?”

Maggie felt sick. This was the kind of thinking that led to Cadmus. This ‘us vs them’ mentality. People like Harris didn’t see aliens as people with their own lives, thoughts, motives, and goals. They saw monsters under the bed, going after them and the people they actually cared about. Anyone outside of their tiny inner circle weren’t inconsequential--because that would almost be _better--_ they saw enemies. It was the kind of crap she was going to have to teach Jamie to deal with everyday. Trying to live her life as someone different. Jamie would have to live this on a completely different scale. Maggie had once been one of the only brown, queer people in her one horse town in Nebraska. Jamie would be someone from an entirely different _world._ The kid was going to have a lot cut out for her.

And until Jamie was old enough to be forced to deal with these assholes on her own, Maggie would be _more_ than happy to deal with them for her.

“That’s not what we’re here for, Harris,” Maggie said through gritted teeth. “These aliens, _people,_ are here to stay. Part of our job is to learn how to serve their interests too. We _start_ by finding out who killed this poor lady in the middle of a damned alleyway among _garbage_ and find some justice for her kid. Maybe try to find some freaking empathy, huh? You’re acting like an asshole.”

“I’m being a realist! They don’t care about _us._ Why should we even bother? They’re just going to take over, take our jobs, vote themselves in, and turn our planet into the hellholes they left in the first place. It’s how it always goes,” Harris scoffed.

Wow. This guy was even stupider than Maggie anticipated. She completely overestimated him, and the realization both infuriated her and depressed her.

“‘How it always goes?’” Maggie asked incredulously. “You mean to tell me _you’ve_ experienced trying to live with aliens on Earth before this? Harris, this isn’t something that’s ever happened before. Whatever _human_ metric you’re trying to box hundred of _thousands_ of aliens in every stripe, color, and creed is completely idiotic.”

She felt like she was trying to argue with the douchebags she’d been tormented by in highschool. Except instead of race, gender, or sexuality, now Maggie apparently had to add _species_ to the things she needed to stand up for. Why was she always coming across horrible people? It was like they were drawn to her, or something. Maggie was getting beyond tired of it.

“That’s a bunch of shit, and you know it,” Harris laughed. “Aren’t you the one always saying the freaks aren’t so different than us? They should all fuck off. Supergirl included. She brings more trouble than she’s worth. Who gives a shit about some kid? It’s part of the problem. It’s gonna grow up, steal resources from _humans_ on _our_ homeplanet, and we’re all supposed to be okay with that?”

Maggie grabbed Harris by his shirt lapel, threw him against the nearest wall, and pratically snarled in her face. Harris’s eyes were wide and he struggled weakly.

Maggie was small, but she could sure as _hell_ handle her own.

 _“I care!_ I’m okay with that! If you’re not, you need to transfer out. I don’t need your bullshit here. I don’t want to hear it, and no one else in the division does either. If you don’t talk to the captain, I’ve got _a lot_ of favors. I’ll put you down in fucking _cold cases_ in the basement! Drive yourself back to the station, and get out my sight,” Maggie spat as she tossed him towards the alley’s exist.

“Fuck off, Sawyer!” Harris shouted as she started walking away. “The cap’s gonna--”

“Go on! Tell him _all_ about it! Who do you think he’s going to listen to? Everyone knows how much of a selfish bastard you are, Harris. You’re out, go cry to whoever the hell you want. I don’t care,” Maggie waved him off, and did her best to ignore the not so quiet insults he gave her as he scurried off.

She took in several deep breaths, trying to recenter herself. She didn’t want to let some idiot like Harris distract her from why she was really here. Jamie was in her thoughts during that argument, but she was Maggie’s first and foremost concern in this case. One day, Jamie would get older. She might just want some answers about what had _really_ happened the night they found her.

A flash of purple light flickered in the corner of Maggie’s eye. Her head snapped up, peering down into the darkness in confusion. Did she just see…?

She couldn’t have. Jamie wasn’t here, she was with Alex. They were spending the day with Kara, who was determined to be the best aunt ever.

Regardless, Jamie wasn’t here, and Maggie was probably just seeing things. Still, she wasn’t a good detective because she ignored her gut, and her gut was telling her that something wasn’t quite right at the end of the alleyway.

Slowly, she made her way to the dumpster she and Alex originally found Jamie in. It had been emptied since the night before last. It certainly smelled better. She carefully took in her surroundings, nothing was out of place. Besides what was left of the trash around them. It was drier, cleaner, and a bit brighter. Other than that, nothing looked _too_ different from the other night.

“Huh.”

A rustle scuffed behind her, and Maggie spun back around. It came from the mouth of the alley. But, when she faced the entrance, no one was there.

Maggie _knew_ she wasn’t crazy.

“Who’s there?” She demanded, putting a hand on her holster.

Okay, so she was part of the Science Division. Creepy, potential stalkers might just be a part of the show. A crappy part of the show, but one Maggie was just going to have to deal with. One thing at a time. Figure out who the hell was with her, and go from there.

“You know, if _I_ was tracking a mysterious telekinetic alien, I certainly wouldn’t do it alone.”

Maggie drew her pistol and pointed it back behind her. The voice came from above her, and sure enough a dark figure was watching her. Casually leaning against a fire escape as if they hung out there everyday.

“Who the hell are you?” Maggie demanded, more than a little miffed that they had scared her so badly. Who hung out in an alleyway and harassed cops? Either this person knew some information about the murder and was picking a weird way to let her know, or they were behind the kiling themselves and was pulling a zodiac style taunt. Maggie hated both those options.

“Put your hands up!” Maggie ordered sharply.

“Sure,” the figure said easily. They had a feminine voice, and if Maggie didn’t know any better, they almost seemed _amused._ It was really beginning to piss her off. “Good job with that guy, by the way. Unfortunately, he’s going to prove to be a bit of a pain, but he really doesn’t have any idea who he’s messing with.”

They had their hands up, at least. Now if only Maggie could get them to stop acting so bizarre.

“What’s your name?”

“Oh, well, that’s something I can’t tell you, Detective Sawyer. I’m here to give you some information.”

“Is this the part where your boss threatens me to drop the case, _or else?”_ Maggie asked mockingly. She was beginning to guess what this was all about.

The figure was dressed all in black, and they blended in with the darker side of the fire escape. Still, Maggie could see well enough to notice that they cocked their head to the side.

“Interesting theory, but not quite. I’m here to make sure things happen as they should.”

“‘Happen as they should?’ What does that even mean? Why don’t you come down here so we can talk poperly?” Maggie asked.

The figure laughed. “We are talking. I just have no interest in getting arrested. Rest assured that I’m interested in who did this just as much as you are. Possibly even more. I’m only here because there is a party out there interested in a little cheating. Changing what most people believe could never be changed. We live in a big galaxy. Some species have a leg up on others. Gotta even the playing field every once in a while, so to speak. Be careful, detective. If only for yourself. That’s not a threat, by the way. It’s a warning. Someone’s tracked this moment, this investigation as a… lynchpin in a certain sequence of events. If it changes, who knows what will happen?”

Maggie’s brain worked quickly to make sense of all this stupid vague crap this person was trying to tell her. “Okay…. So, if you’re trying not to change anything, why even talk to me at all? Aren’t there rules to this kind of thing?”

It was entirely possible that this person was crazy. Plenty of those types in a city this big. Maggie figured it couldn’t hurt to play along. If only to find out if they even knew anything about this case. That was all Maggie was really worried about.

“Of course there are rules. Well, _one_ rule. The only way to change anything is to eliminate a potential decision maker. Who makes decisions? People do. Kill a person, change the outcome. Otherwise, the universe tends to sort itself out. Stable thing, the universe. Guess it’s gotta be if it wants to house a nigh unlimited amount of species with various levels of technology. Who knows when one of those species tries something to mess everything up….”

Maggie pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay. I’m trying to get this straight. You’re telling me, someone’s out there to kill me. Who isn’t _you,_ and that they have some kind of mysterious technology that sounds awfully like something out of a bad sci-fi movie.”

“Yep. Right on the nose. It really does sound like something from a bad movie, doesn’t it? Here I am, trying to sound all mysterious…. Guess it didn’t pan out quite like I imagined. Alright, fine. Should’ve known you’d appreciate a more direct approach, detective. Always have. Look. Somebody wants to go after you. You’re the weak link, as much as that pains me to say. You don’t have support from the DEO, you don’t have Kryptonian superpowers, and you’re right in the middle of this. You’re the best way to break the sequence. Be _careful._ If you aren’t, everything changes. There’s not going to be anyone to stop the syndicate, because, ultimately, the goal is the girl. She’s important to them. If they can’t get her early, change the course, then they’ll just kill her. Would _rather_ avoid that happening. Both options, really, they’re equally bad,” the figure shuddered.

But Maggie felt her blood run cold. They were after Jamie? Well, of course they were. Maggie already knew that from Jamie herself. The only reason the kid was probably even alive right now was because her mother hid her in that dumpster. But here was a complete stranger confirming her worst fear. That was a bit different. It made the threat against Jamie even more real.

“Who are you?!” Maggie shouted. Her temper was at its breaking point.

“A friend. I’m on your side, and I’ll be watching. I’d just rather you help me out a little bit by not jumping into dank, cramped, and dark places on your lonesome. Get yourself a partner who’s not an asshole. Maybe that secret agent you’re so fond of? Supergirl maybe? Lower your expectations and give the Guardian a call? I don’t care, just make sure you have someone to help you watch your back. Because I can’t be in two places at once. The kid’s gotta be looked after too. Look after yourself, detective. Or risk the future. Kind of an easy choice, if you ask me.”

With that, the figure disappeared in crackle of violet energy.

Well, damn. Another Is’ae. Maggie wondered whether they knew Jamie. If they were related to the kid. If they weren’t a part of the syndicate, as they _claimed,_ then there were only so many reasons to explain why this person was so interested in what happened to Jamie.

Maggie pulled out her phone, and dialed J’onn. She didn’t use this number often, Alex was closer to him than she was, and any professional needs she might have with the DEO was often worked out with Alex. But her wife was on injury leave. Maggie wasn’t about to call her in before she was ready. She didn’t plan to keep this bizarre conversation from her, but Maggie did plan to wait a long enough time for it to become useless for Alex to come out here. Such as after she got home and they were having dinner. By then, the trail would be long cold, and there’d be no reason for her stubborn wife to come out here. J’onn could investigate this further while Maggie focused on the murder. She wanted to find out who this person was, who they worked for, and to bring them in for a much more thorough interrogation.

Maggie wanted answers, dammit.

“J’onn,” she greeted briskly as his voice came over the line. “Something _weird_ is going on.”

* * *

”Anything else you want to add to your statement, Sawyer?” Her captain asked with a sigh.

“Nope. Harris was… he was something,” Maggie said with a growl, holding back what she _really_ wanted to call him. She had to be professional, after all, and didn’t want to risk anything that would compromise Harris’s forced transfer out of Maggie’s division.

“Alright. I’ll hand this over to IA, see what they dig up. In the meantime, get your ass home. You’ve got that kid waiting for you.”

“Sure thing, sir,” Maggie chuckled.

Maggie sighed heavily as she made her way back to her desk. This day had been, for lack of a better word, bullshit. J’onn had been alarmed by this new development, and promised to look into it personally, In the meantime, Maggie was left with this case, which she was no closer to solving. The only development being the new stalker she’d apparently acquired.

Her phone rang, and Maggie was the kind of tired that had her picking the damn thing up and answering without even looking at that contact.

“Sawyer,” she snapped out tiredly.

“That’s no way to greet someone on the phone, Margaret.”

Maggie sat up straighter as dread filled her.

Damn.

It just had to be _this_ kind of day, didn’t it?

“Aunt Laura,” she said awkwardly.

“And you don’t even sound happy to hear from me. Is this a bad time? I can call back if you’re busy,” Laura said, dropping her teasing.

She wanted to say yes. She was very, _very_ busy. Not to mention tired, stressed, and irritated. But, why not just get this over with? There was no guarantee tomorrow would be better than today, what with her job, and the last thing Maggie wanted to do was keep her aunt in the dark when everyone else in her life was now allowed to celebrate this new development with her.

“No, sorry, I’m just tired.”

“I should have a talk with Alex. Make sure she’s helping you relax a little more. You work too much, Maggie.”

Maggie hummed noncommittally. “Yeah, it’s not work this time.” Well, it _hadn’t_ been work. Now work was bleeding its way into her exhaustion after today. “Alex and I have… been talking about kids.”

“Have you? That’s wonderful! I think you’d both be good at it,” Laura said brightly.

Well, that was a good sign. “Yeah… we actually might have been talking about it for a long time now. And… we might have taken in a kid the other night. Found her on one of my crime scenes, she didn’t have anywhere to go, and we stepped up.”

It was quiet on the line. Too quiet. Maggie braced herself.

“You mean to tell me, that not only have you and your wife been talking about _kids_ for a ‘long time’ but I also have a _great niece_ that you haven’t told me about?! Margaret Ellen Sawyer! I oughta get a flight ticket right now so I can meet this kid and give you a good earful while I’m at it,” Laura grumbled.

“Wait, _this_ isn’t the earful?” Maggie asked with a grin.

“Of course it isn’t! I prefer to lecture you in person, you know that. What’s the kid’s name?”

“Jamie,” Maggie answered, beaming at the thought of this kid. Man, she had it bad. “She’s an alien, five years old.” They’d finally gotten confirmation on that by asking the kid yesterday.

“Oh, and I bet she’s got you wrapped around her finger already,” Laura laughed. “The only person you’ve ever spoken of in that tone is Alex, and I think _everyone_ knew how badly you fell for her from the get go.”

“Shut up,” Maggie said as she ignored how fast her face was heating up. “I was _a lot_ smoother than that. If anyone was a mess, it was Alex.”

“Really? ‘Aunt Laura, I think I ruined everything! There’s this girl, and I was stupid, and told her we were in different places, and--’”

“You promised we would never speak of that freak out again!”

“Hmm, I raised you through the awkward, humiliating experience of junior high. My reward is pulling out any embarrassing story I think might be relevant to whatever situation we’re in. Remember when I told Alex about your obsession with that warrior princess show?” Laura snorted.

“Xena is a gay icon, I’ll have you know. If I _hadn’t_ been obsessed with her, I would have been a disgrace to my people!”

“Whatever you say. I’m just saying that I bet this girl has turned you into a mess. And I think that’s wonderful. You deserve to be happy, Maggie, and I’m glad you’re finally realizing that,” Laura said seriously.

Maggie cleared her throat several times, trying to ignore how true her aunt’s words were. A few years ago, Maggie probably would be at the bar, drinking alone, and serial dating a few women she had no future prospects with. If someone would have told Maggie she was going to have her life she was now trying to put together, she would have thought them crazy. She worked too much, cared too little, and was often accused of being too insensitive.

Now look at her, married and trying to look after a kid. Never would have thought she’d get this far, or even close, to something like this.

“Well, you can fly out to meet her whenever you want,” Maggie continued, brushing past Laura’s words. The chuckle her aunt gave let Maggie know that Laura was perfectly aware of what she was doing. “Let me know, and I’ll get your ticket taken care--”

“Margaret, I will buy my own damn ticket, and you know that,” Laura said before she could get too far. “And don’t even talk to me about hotels. I imagine you’ve given your guest room to the girl. I’ll stay in a room.”

“Aunt Laura, I’m happy to--”

“Of course you are, but I live in Nebraska, in a damn farmhouse, with no kids, doing nothing with my money. I can handle this just fine. None of this ‘not being a burden’ nonsense I know you’re thinking about.”

Maggie gritted her teeth, knowing that her aunt had just seen right through her.

“This is important to you. I’m probably going to be a great-aunt to this kid, and I _want_ to meet her. If only to tell her some embarrassing teenage stories about you in several years when she becomes certain that you’ve only ever been old, lame, and don’t understand anything about her,” Laura said.

“What is with you and telling people all about the most humiliating stories of my life?” Maggie practically moaned.

“It’s what overbearing, proud parents do, Maggie. You’ll end up being the worst of us all, I’ll bet. You’ve always been a little shit, and you’re not going to be able to resist. You’ve already told me a few stories about Alex and her sister that I’m certain they’d have rather never got out.”

Maggie grunted, not willing to admit to that. Then she stopped short. The ‘p-a-r-e-n-t’ word was something she and Laura had always avoided between the two of them. It was the sorest of sore spots to Maggie, and Laura had always respected that. However, hearing it now, Maggie was surprised that it didn’t make her feel angry or trapped. Aunt Laura has been the one person in her corner who she’s called on--when she could bring herself to--for the past fifteen or so years. There was no Mom and Dad. It was Aunt Laura. Had been since the day she was kicked out of her house.

It made her think of how she hoped Jamie would see her and Alex one day. She honestly wouldn’t mind it if Jamie decided to stick with their names for the next thirteen years. That didn’t matter. What mattered to Maggie was that this kid would one day go to them whenever she needed them. Come home for holidays. Call them in a panic, thinking she ruined a romantic relationship. Maggie wanted all of that; wanted her to think of them as her parents, even if she didn’t call them that by name.

It was basically everything Maggie did sparingly with Aunt Laura. They’d gotten closer over the past couple of years, and Maggie had found herself calling back ‘home’ to Nebraska more often. More regularly speaking with Laura and telling her about her life. In fact, now that Maggie thought about it, her reconnecting with Laura could be directly attributed to when Maggie met Alex.

Huh.

Maybe it was high time she accepted that Aunt Laura was much more important to her than Maggie pretended she was.

“Well, you’re coming over for dinner. If you won’t let me pay for your ticket or room, then at least let me and Alex cook something for you,” Maggie finally said.

“You won’t set off the smoke alarm again, will you?”

“We’ve gotten _better,_ thank you. But if you’re that worried, I’m sure you’ll end up kicking us out and cooking yourself.”

“Damn right I am. I’ll be over in a few days. Invite the family. I haven’t seen Alex’s sister since the wedding. Nice girl, very sunny. I certainly hope you’ve called Dr. Danvers about this too. She’s too nice to find out about this on that Twitter or Insta-whatever-the-hell-it-is,” Laura scolded.

“Alex called her, don’t worry. She’ll be here starting tomorrow. And Kara’s been crashing our place repeatedly for days. She likes Jamie almost as much as we do. Maybe even more. If you want to see someone spoiling the kid, that’d be Kara. Driving me nuts already.”

Kara _might_ have been bringing over at _least_ one stuffed animal every visit. And she visited multiple times a day. Maggie finally had to put her foot down and institute an embargo. Kara had pouted for an entire day, which was how Jamie had been introduced to potstickers and pizza. Maggie might have been more resilient to the ‘Superpout’ than most, but even she had a limit. Food and a movie night--Disney for Jamie’s ongoing Earth education--was enough to wipe away Kara’s sullen mood, thankfully. As for the movies, Alex had surprisingly suggested that they power through a few of the _many_ Disney orphan movies. That company _really_ liked killing off parents. Something about not ignoring the subject and hopefully helping Jamie through her mother’s murder with characters she could understand and relate to.

“You love it,” Laura said, and Maggie could hear her grin over the phone. “Someone has to spoil that kid, and it’s nice that you have a family big enough to do it. Don’t think I won’t be spoiling her either.”

Maggie did, but she had to keep things _sane._ Between Kara, Eliza, and now Laura, she hoped that they wouldn’t overwhelm the kid.

“Just… try to keep it reasonable, _please._ She’s going to have a lot of people paying attention to her, and Jamie can be kind of shy,” Maggie said warningly.

“You forget I _can_ be discreet.”

Laura didn’t say anything else, but she didn’t have to. Maggie had been a shell right after what happened. After that, she’d grown neurotic about not getting kicked out all over again. After that, defensive, angry, and confused as it became apparent that her parents weren’t even going to so much as return her calls. Laura had started out a little too much, trying to overcompensate for her parents, but she’d learned how to follow Maggie’s lead after many tantrums, sullen afternoons, and tears.

“Okay,” Maggie said, and relaxed marginally. “If you can tone it down to a level below Kara, then I’ll take it.”

“Well, that should be easy.”

Yeah, it probably would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So..., here's a bit of plot in this chapter. I said before that I'm not a big fan of endless fluff. Rest assured that the fluff is far from over, it will still be rather heavy. Jamie is young and still trying to adjust to her new life, after all. But I am a firm believer that never ending fluff, or even angst, loses its impact after a time. Can't appreciate the good times without a little bad. And vice-versa. Bad being relative, nothing horrible is about to happen in this fic. Just a murder mystery and a bit of technological tomfoolery, with some badass crime fighting on top.
> 
> Beyond that, I realize that this chapter has introduced a concept that takes a portion of this story in an entirely different direction. I debated over this for some time. Whether or not I wanted to put it in this story, or start another that takes place years down the road. But, in the end, I decided that putting it here allows up to play with Alex and Maggie and all their badassery while they are still in their thirties. We won't have to wait forever and a half to find out what kind of impact Jamie's powers will have. Lastly, and I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back, I am stuck in a house with nothing to do and going stir crazy
> 
> I am not unaware that my strong points in writing are character relationships. (Description writing is an entirely a different story. Ask me what the hell Alex and Maggie's living room looks like. I have no clue. There's a coffee table. A couch, I'm pretty sure. A TV maybe??? I don't know.) There will be PLENTY of that with this storyline. All the complicated family dynamics, dealing with loss, learning to create a family, dealing with a little shit that's been raised by Alex and Maggie. I think everyone knows how mischievous Maggie is, but Alex can get up there herself. This is going to be a wild ride.
> 
> In short, I've dropped a bomb here, but I'm not about to be changing the spirit of this fic. Just inducing a little badassery here on top of the fluff. My imagination is running wild with nothing to do.


	8. Eight

Grocery shopping was another brand new Earth experience. When questioned, Jamie told her that--the few times her mother had actually taken her into a grocery store--they either did quick, in and out, purchasing of ‘frozen stuff,’ or they got take out.

It certainly put things into perspective for Alex. One never knew what they took for granted before watching a kid marvel at  _ all  _ the different kinds of cereal she could pick out.

“Is… is the cookie cereal good?” Jamie asked after staring at her options for several moments.

“Yep. Kara likes it a lot. I’m more of a fan of Frosted Flakes myself,” Alex said, going through some work email while she waited for Jamie to make her choice. After those early shopping trips with Kara, Alex was more than prepared for what was probably going to turn into a two hour event.

“What about this one?” She asked, pointing to a box of Fruity Pebbles.

Alex wrinkled her nose. “Ugh…. I mean, it’s okay. But the soggy to crunchy ratio for that one is  _ really  _ off. If you don’t eat it fast enough, it turns into a soupy mess from the milk.”

Jamie nodded, as if Alex was dispensing life affirming advice instead of regurgitating the results of her and Kara’s experiments one weekend to find ‘The Greatest Cereal of All Time.’

That had been one  _ boring  _ summer.

They also had been unable to come to a consensus.

“Is cin-cina…. Um. This one. Is  _ it  _ good?” Jamie pointed to another box. Cinnamon Frosted Flakes.

They were new, Alex had never had them.

“Huh. Don’t know. Wanna try them together?”

Jamie reached for the box, but on the tips of her fingers brushed Tony’s face. Before Alex could help, Jamie looked both ways down the aisle. Like she had after Alex taught her how to properly cross a street.  _ That  _ particular teaching moment had nearly given Alex a heart attack. When Jamie was satisfied that they were alone, her powers flashed, and the box was outlined in a glow, plucked itself off the shelf, and into the kid’s hands. She flashed Alex a triumphant grin and placed it in the basket.

This all happened in the course of  _ seconds.  _ Far too quickly for Alex to decide on what she thought about it. On the one hand, Alex’s base instinct was to gently scold Jamie, and convince her to hide her powers. Like with Kara. Who was a superhero, had a secret identity, and lived a human life. Jamie was outwardly alien. It was common knowledge to most people who didn’t live under a rock, that many aliens had powers. Jamie’s situation was a little different than Kara’s. There was alien amnesty now, general attitudes towards aliens were improving, and it wasn’t as if Jamie was trying to masquerade as a human. Alex and Maggie had decided against it, not wanting to relive Alex and Kara’s tough childhoods in Midvale trying to hide Kara like some dirty secret. It had been necessary at the time because of Superman’s enemies and the government, but Jamie didn’t have either of those problems.

Still, after Maggie’s argument with Harris, Alex was on edge.

She needed to talk to Maggie. Decide if they wanted Jamie using her powers in public. Going out as her natural look was one thing, powers were another. Not everyone was open minded, and there was no telling how a frightened, angry person would react to this. Not that Alex wanted to live in fear of those kinds of people either, because that would ultimately harm Jamie too. Then again, Jamie was so young. Her powers were more like parlor tricks right now, and there was no way she would be able to actually defend herself against a determined attacker before blowing out her powers. Alex would feel much more confident after Jamie was older, had more stamina and power hopefully, and was trained in how to use her powers in a combat setting.

In any case, it seemed this issue was much more complicated than they first thought, and Alex didn’t want to jump the gun without talking to Maggie first. So, she smiled back at Jamie as best she could, and continued their shopping.

Alex made most of the shopping decisions after the cereal aisle. For one thing, they needed to finish  _ some time  _ today, and for another, Jamie was hardly interested in picking out what kind of lunch meat they were buying. They all looked like the same, pinkish slices to meat to one another, after all. Alex did let her pick out some fruit. Which was how they came back with the eclectic combination of one orange, a prickly pear, three limes, and a tomato.

Tomatoes  _ were  _ technically fruits. Alex had answered Jamie’s question factually. Maggie was going to tease the crap out of her later. Well, Alex would just have to point out that  _ she  _ was the one who allowed Jamie to take the limes home. To be fair, Alex did warn the girl of how sour they were, but it was probably hard to understand what exactly that meant in terms of taste until one tried them themselves. Alex would be sure to film the experiment for posterity.

At least they’d managed to get their way through the shopping list. Made good time too, all things considered. Only and hour and a half to find everything they needed while giving Jamie some options in what they picked up.

It wasn’t until they got to the checkout that Alex spotted a few people staring at Jamie curiously. Is’ae weren’t exactly common. Hell, aliens weren’t really a majority group in and of themselves. Alex wouldn’t be surprised if most people kind of bunched all the different types into one large umbrella helpfully and conveniently labeled ‘ALIENS.’

She shot a few of the more blatant and rude individuals nasty looks, but otherwise didn’t bring attention to it. Jamie was chattering on innocently, and hadn’t noticed the attention she was getting. That would probably come later. Until then, Alex was content to let her enjoy her day.

“What are these?”

Alex brought her attention back to Jamie, who was enamoured by the large, overly stocked, colorful selection of candy that was always,  _ always  _ placed right before the registers in just about every grocery store and gas station ever. The bane of every parent with small children.

Alex cringed inwardly, now realizing that she was about to know the pain of millions of parents and guardians the world over.

“Candy,” Alex reluctantly answered.

Jamie knew what candy was, and her eyes lit up  _ almost  _ literally.

Alex was going to  _ kill  _ Kara for this.

“Can we get some?”

She debated over the question, nonetheless. Every kid wanted candy when they checked out of the grocery store. Alex didn’t want to be one of those caretakers that give their kids whatever they wanted any time they asked for something. For one thing, that was a quick way to spoiling them. Secondly, it was a good way to induce hyperactivity, and Alex was learning quickly that Jamie’s brand of hyperactivity involved telekinetically lifting various objects in her general vicinity.

Then again, Jamie had been good in the grocery store. It might not always be like this, especially once the novelty of shopping wore off. Jamie’s head was cocked to the side, and she was staring at Alex with a guileless innocence that was entirely too genuine to be a pout.

Alex pursed her lips and looked the stand over. All the chocolate, king sized candy, and what Alex widely considered to be the devil’s food when it was in relation to small children, was up top. The smaller packages were near the bottom. If Alex was going to be a pushover, she at least wanted to take some failsafe measures.

“Pick something from the bottom two shelves,” Alex said and tried not to grimace.

Maggie was  _ totally  _ going to give her shit for this.

Again, Alex was reminded that Jamie had no frame of reference for this. She just lit up at the fact she was getting  _ any  _ kind of candy, and then proceeded to look over the limited options she had as if she was doing something as important as car shopping.

“This one,” Jamie announced and handed over a bag of Skittles. “They have all the flavors in the bag. Don’t gotta choose between anything.”

Smart kid.

“She’s cute,” the checker said with a wide smile, and Alex realized that they had a tiny audience in said checker and the bored man waiting in line behind them. Well, the checker at least. Surprisingly, the man was more concerned with the magazine in his hand than staring at the tiny alien in front of him. He instantly became Alex’s favorite stranger today.

“Thanks,” Alex answered as she started putting their things on the best.

“I can help!” Jamie exclaimed and reached for the eggs.

“Whoa!” Alex was quick to rescue the poor, fragile things from a terrible fate. “I’m closer to this side,” she said and indicated the child seat of the basket that was packed with all the fragile groceries. Fragile groceries that probably wouldn’t appreciate the small, overexcited hands of a kid a little too eager to realize what she was doing. “Start on the stuff in the basket, please.”

Jamie nodded quickly, and began haphazardly stacking things on the belt.

The checker sent Alex a knowing look.

Somehow, they got everything rung up safely and without tragedy. Alex was amazed that this was going so smoothly. Then again, it wasn’t as if Jamie was a toddler. The chances of a the kind of meltdown Alex had witnessed only a few times in person at a store between overtired, red faced kids and their put upon, exasperated parents were very slim considering Jamie’s age and general development.

Regardless, Alex was going to put this outing in the Win column. As they made their way to the car, Jamie was already making a mess out of her Skittles. Geez. It seemed Alex was learning more than a few lessons today. This one being: don’t let the kid eat the candy until they got home. Alex didn’t want to imagine the Skittles that was going to be stuck to her car’s carpet.

She was midway through loading the groceries in the the trunk when they were interrupted.

“Jamie?”

Alex felt her stomach drop. She didn’t recognize this voice. Which meant that they knew who Jamie was through an avenue that wasn’t Alex or Maggie. Maggie had warned her last night about the strange stalker, about their warning, and that they were after Jamie. She should have never left the apartment with Jamie. Not so long as that threat was still out there.

Alex drew her pistol and spun around to point it at the intruder in one motion. A woman was standing behind them. Alien, another Is’ae. Why were these guys popping out of the woodwork suddenly? Alex has gone from never knowing of their existence, to hearing rumors of a damn syndicate of them, stumbling across Jamie and her mother--Jamie being the best thing about this by far--to gaining a stalker, and now  _ this.  _ Alex didn’t know what this was, but she just  _ knew  _ it was going to be bad.

“Who are you?” Alex demanded harshly. The woman looked remarkably like Jamie’s mother. That wasn’t a face Alex was likely to forget any time soon. Not until the murderer was found, at least. Except, instead of purple markings, the woman was sporting light green accents.

She held her hands out, but Alex didn’t like the woman’s expression. She didn’t seem at all panicked that a weapon was pointed at her face. She was regarding Alex placidly.

“Please, human. I’ve been looking for my niece--”

Alex snorted. “Jamie, you ever seen this woman before?”

Jamie was mid Skittles chew, and she was looking back and forth between Alex and this woman in fear. “No…. It was just me and Mommy.”

“Didn’t think so. Get in the car, please.”

Thankfully, Jamie didn’t argue. Alex wasn’t going to continue speaking until she heard the door shut behind Jamie. Not that Alex didn’t doubt the kid would be peeking at them from around the seat.

“Let’s try this again. Who are you? And nothing about being Jamie’s ‘aunt.’ We both know that’s bullshit,” Alex said with narrowed eyes.

“This could have easy,” the woman said, her eyes taking on a green glow. “What are you going to do with that?” She sneered at Alex’s pistol and clenched one of her fists.

And then the damn pistol was literally pulled out of Alex’s hand Star Wars style.

“Jamie’s coming with me,” the woman told her.

“The hell she is,” Alex ground out.

She wasn’t sure what the hell she was going to do against someone with mind powers, that was a bit different that using someone’s physical strength against them, but she would be damned before she just handed Jamie over.

The woman was staring her down, but interestingly, Alex noted that her gaze snapped to something behind Alex. It must not have been something she wanted to see because the woman snarled furiously.

“As nice as it is to see how far you’d go to protect the girl, that won’t be necessary,”  _ another  _ voice rang out.

Alex was getting tired of this. “What the  _ fuck  _ is going on?”

The other mysterious person, decked out in what looked like standard DEO tactical gear, sidled up beside Alex as if they were the best of friends.

_ “You,” _ the woman said through gritted teeth. “You followed me here!”

“Yep. Sure did. And unless you want to cause a scene, I suggest you retreat and pick another time,” the tac-suited figure said. Violet energy enveloped her fists threateningly.

The green Is’ae seemed to look around them, noting a few people who were already rubbernecking at them as they walked to their cars.

“This won’t be an easy in-and-out anymore,” the purple Is’ae continued. Alex  _ really  _ wished they’d just say each others names. They obviously knew one another.

With an infuriated hiss, the green Is’ae disappeared with a green  _ crack. _

Alex wasn’t about to get out of this bullshit without some answers. Before this new Is’ae could even  _ think  _ of pulling a damn Houdini, she clamped her hand on their wrist.

“Nu-uh,” Alex said coldly. “There’s not going to be any vague hints this time. I know you visited my wife, and now you’re here. What do you want?”

“What? You didn’t like my Glinda the Witch routine?”

“Are you serious? I’m trying to keep this kid  _ safe,  _ and this is a joke to you?!”

“Whoa, hey, come on now,” the Is’ae said and held her hands out placatingly. “I’m as interested in keeping the kid safe as you are. I just can’t give you a lot of the answers you’re looking for. Kind of makes my job much harder and more dangerous than it needs to be.”

“I don’t  _ care,”  _ Alex said as she grabbed the Is’ae by the front of their shirt. “All I care about is Jamie. I don’t give a damn about  _ you.” _

“Huh. That’s funny. Alright. I’ll throw you a bone. You just gotta promise to take me at my word. It’d be a little silly to lie about this crap at this point. I mean, literally  _ anything else  _ would be a better explanation than what I’m about to tell you.”

_ “Answers. Now.” _

“Anybody ever tell you that you poke  _ really  _ hard,” the Is’ae said and rubbed her chest indignantly. “I’m from the future. There. Happy?”

No, Alex  _ wasn’t  _ happy. “Are you-- You know what? You’re under arrest.”

“Yeah. You’re gonna bring me in with those broken ribs, completely ignoring the fact that I have mind powers I’m not using  _ only  _ because I don’t want to hurt you,” the Is’ae snickered. “Besides, what are my charges? ‘Preventing a kidnapping and possible murder?’ Look, I get it. You’re not a fan of situations out your control, Agent Danvers. Ironically, that’s not what’s happening here. You  _ are  _ in control of this op. From a certain point of view.”

“I’m getting really tired of all this Star Wars crap today. ‘From a certain point of view?’ That line was bullshit in the movie, and it’s bullshit now,” Alex snarled.

The Is’ae sighed and fidgeted with her fingers. “You’re gonna make me spell it out, aren’t you?  _ Fine.  _ You’re my commanding officer. I work for the DEO. You sent me back here, to this time, to prevent the Sawyer-Danvers family from getting killed. Unfortunately, I was the  _ only  _ one sent back. Time travel is expensive and takes up a lot of resources.”

“Family?”

Alex couldn’t help herself.  _ If  _ what this Is’ae was saying was true, then that was pretty much confirmation of everything Alex wanted.

“Is that all you got from that? I mean it’s heartwarming and all, but hardly the thing we need to be focused on. Forget about me for now. You’ve got a kid to raise, and a murder to solve. This mission I’m on doesn’t concern you for  _ at least  _ another fifteen years. You’ll be working it eventually. Just… not  _ now.  _ Take Jamie home. I don’t think this excitement has been all that great for her,” the Is’ae pulled Alex’s hand off her and disappeared as quickly as the green one had.

_ “Dammit!” _

This was getting out of hand. Time travel? This couldn’t be real. Not because Alex thought it was impossible. Kara has literally told her stories about her friend from another Earth apparently trying it himself. No, she just couldn’t believe that it was happening to  _ them.  _ Alex didn’t care what the Is’ae said. She wanted some real answers. Jamie was a sweet kid, and she didn’t deserve all this trouble. All Alex wanted to do was give her a… well, a family.

“Alex?”

Jamie. She was hiding behind the now opened car door, and Alex could see the fear in her wide eyes.

“Hey, what are doing out here?” Alex asked as she knelt before her. “I told you to wait in the car.”

Jamie was fidgeting with her fingers. “I know. I wanted to see if you were okay.”

Alex could hear the tightness in her voice. “Jamie, it’s okay,” she said softly. “I’m fine, I’m not hurt. See?” She held out her arms, as if to present herself for visual inspection.

Except Jamie didn’t bother looking her over. Instead she launched herself into Alex’s torso and started crying uncontrollably.

It was unexpected, and Alex grunted as Jamie accidentally jostled her. She held Jamie to her, nonetheless, and started rubbing the kid’s back as it shuddered.

Jamie’s hand landed on Alex’s arm, and suddenly Alex found herself watching a completely different scene. Almost like a movie playing before her eyes. Except it was in her head.

_ “Stay here.” _

_ “Mommy don’t leave me!” _

_ “Jamie,  _ stay!  _ Don’t come out. No matter what you hear.” _

_ Mommy didn’t stay long enough for Jamie to promise. She shut the lid, and now Jamie was in the dark. She was too scared to glow. _

_ She heard voices. Mommy’s voice. And a stranger. _

_ “Get away from me. I’m done.” _

_ “Just tell me where you took the girl, and this will be quick.” _

_ “That’s not happening. You can look all over this damn city, and you’re not going to find her.” _

_ “He’s not happy with you, you know. Taking his kid with you? It’s one thing to betray us and try to leave, another to take his baby girl.” _

_ “She’s not his! Never has been. And it’s going to stay that way.” _

Alex was pulled back, and she blinked her eyes as the alley faded away.

“No, no, no!” Jamie moaned. “I don’t wanna! Don’t wanna remember!”

She was sobbing loudly; breath hitching unevenly. Alex knew a panic attack when she saw one.

“Jamie, I want you to breathe with me,” she said and placed Jamie’s hand on her chest. “Just like this.”

She took in several deep, slow breaths. It took Jamie a moment, but soon she was trying her best to match Alex’s rhythm.

Alex’s head was spinning. Jamie remembered  _ everything.  _ Sure, they knew that Is’ae had a mental component to their powers, but to effectively perfect memories? Now Alex realized why Jamie had been sleeping with them since they found her. She could feel  _ every  _ single emotion Jamie had felt during that memory. It wasn’t just childish, normal fears either. Jamie wasn’t just afraid of the dark, after getting placed in the dumpster. She was terrified of being left  _ alone. _

Just as she had that night.

Today had obviously frightened her. Another Is’ae looking to hurt someone to get to her. Alex wondered how long it was going to take for Jamie to process that. And to blame herself for her mother’s death. Not that Jamie in  _ any  _ way deserved that blame, but Alex knew a thing or two about taking on blame that was undeserved.

It was only a matter of time.

“I’m okay,” Alex said as Jamie’s sobs reduced to loud hiccups and sniffles. “She didn’t hurt me. I’m not going anywhere, and you’re not alone.”

She had no idea if Jamie was even paying attention to what she was saying though all her trauma. But Alex would tell her that  _ everyday  _ if she had to.

There was only one good thing that came out of all this mess. And Alex still would have preferred to learn it any other way than she had. They had a motive in the case. And a suspect. Alex wanted to get the hitman, but he was only symptom of the main problem. If Jamie’s memory was accurate, then her mother wasn’t killed by some stranger for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They’d already suspected that, but this was more tragic than Alex had bargained for.

Jamie’s father had apparently ordered the hit.

Alex didn’t even know where to  _ begin  _ in explaining all this to Jamie. She deserved to know the truth, but who just blurts that out?

She  _ needed _ to talk to Maggie.

But first, Alex still had a distraught kid on her hands. Literally. Jamie’s hiccups were on their tail end, but she had Alex’s shirt in a death grip.

“Jamie? I’m okay,” Alex repeated.

“Y-you s-said the bad guys weren’t gonna get me,” Jamie finally whispered. She pulled back from Alex and gave what had to be the most terrified and betrayed expression Alex had ever seen. It very nearly had Alex shuddering.

“They haven’t. She’s gone, and she’s not going to either. Our… friend is going to help us, and my job will think of something to do too. I’m sorry this happened, Jamie, and I can’t promise that  _ everything  _ will be okay. But nothing is going to happen to you if I have anything to say about it,” Alex tried to keep the ferocity that was bubbling up from her chest from exploding out. Jamie wasn’t the target of her fury. She didn’t think she succeeded very well.

Still, instead of cowering away from it, Jamie seemed to grow calmer. Again she placed her hand on Alex’s arm. This time, Alex was able to watch as the purple wisps danced over her skin. Suddenly, Alex was inundated with a heavy feeling of  _ fear  _ that she knew didn’t actually belong to her. That fear seemed to almost… touch Alex’s anger and protectiveness and grow smaller in turn. Alex was fascinated. She was by now familiar with J’onn’s brand of mind reading. She had no idea what he picked up in any given moment, and it didn’t go both ways. Jamie’s powers seemed to work like a two-way connection, despite the fact that Alex had no mind reading powers of her own. She wondered at the biological implications that had to be present in order to make a cross-species connection not only viable by successful….

Jamie retreated, but instead of tears, she was looking at Alex bemusedly. “You think about weird stuff.”

Alex couldn’t help it. She laughed. Hard. Jamie frowned indignantly, and had Alex trying her best to reassure her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Alex said between chuckles. “I’m not laughing at you.”

Jamie narrowed her eyes.

“Promise,” Alex said as she held a hand up. “I’m laughing at me. And Maggie. She’s always teasing me about being a giant nerd. Looks like she’s right. Just don’t tell her that. She’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

“What’s a nerd?” Jamie asked, still looking at Alex with a healthy bit of suspicion.

Hmm. This was going to be a hard one. “Well,” she started slowly. “When someone calls another person a nerd, they’re  _ usually  _ making fun of them for being smart or because they like things that most people would think are overly complicated or boring.”

Jamie’s eyes grew large and circular. “But that’s mean! Maggie’s not  _ mean!” _

Oh geez. “Hold on, wait a minute,” Alex said quickly. “I said  _ usually.  _ Maggie’s just teasing when she says it, and she doesn’t mean it in a mean way. She actually loves that I’m a nerd. She thinks it’s cute.”

And just like that, Jamie was onto something completely different. Instead of being freshly reminded of her mother’s murder or worrying about Alex, now she was much more concerned with defending Alex. Wait….

“But if you  _ really  _ think Maggie’s just being mean, why don’t you ask her when she gets home?” Alex proposed with a faux-innocently.

This was almost guilt inducing.  _ Almost.  _ Because Jamie just took Alex at her word so easily. She nodded determinedly, and just like that, Alex had a tiny knight fighting for her honor.

Alex was going to have to film  _ this  _ too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little more plot, lots more Alex and Jamie bonding. I feel sorry for the Inquisition Jamie is going to level at Maggie later. I'm sure that Maggie will get her revenge on Alex eventually, though.
> 
> I might be able to return to work tomorrow. Depends on if the roads near me will take on more water. If that happens, my home store will be cut off along with my home town. At any rate, if I am able to return to work, I'm afraid I won't be able to update as quickly. Frankly, this fic's output has been lightening fast, even for me. I think I've written over 20k words over the course of five or six days. Damn.
> 
> I hope this ends soon. First thing on my list, after putting my apartment back together, will be putting my desktop back together. I miss my PC like nothing else. After THAT, I plan on 'find and replacing' all the hideous '--' dashes with real em dashes. That is still driving me nuts.


	9. Nine

“How many times have you met with him?” Maggie asked, and leaned  _ just  _ that little bit in her reluctant informant’s space to make him the slightest uncomfortable.

“Look, Sawyer, I don’t wanna cross these guys. They’re a bunch of weirdos,” Billy, a human she was often keeping an eye on because he peddled drugs laced with alien additives. Maggie never joined the Drug Unit for a reason, she didn’t like the taste she got in her mouth after she had to arrest drug users as a beat cop. There were much worse people out there than those chasing a high. Billy got on her watch list because those alien additives might just end up toxic to any random buyer. There were more than trivial differences between all the species trying to live next to one another in National City.

“They got  _ mind powers,”  _ Billy continued in a whisper. “What if they erase all my memories or something?”

Billy was also extremely stupid. Hence thinking alien chemicals randomly thrown into his drugs was a swell idea.

To be fair, though, Maggie wasn’t all that certain if Is’ae could or couldn’t actually do something like that. She knew they could easily bond and read the thoughts, emotions, and memories with just about anyone they wanted from personal experience. Except, Jamie was a kid often just looking for comfort. She had  _ no  _ idea what would happen if a hostile Is’ae tried to invade someone’s head.

“Well, Billy, seems to me you have an even  _ better  _ reason to tell me what I want to know,” Maggie said as she smirked at him. “These guys sound pretty legit. They’ll know we picked you up for a little ‘chat’ by now. And if they don’t, then they’ll just find out from reading your mind when you see one of them again. Answer my questions, and I can help you skip town until this blows over.”

“Look, I’m sure you can, but-- Listen, you’ve always kept your word with me. I mean, it would be a lot better if you weren’t always bringing me in for trying to give people a little fun--”

“One of your mixes almost sent six people to the hospital. I don’t think they’d consider that  _ ‘fun.’”  _ Maggie scoffed.

“See? You ain’t one of those shitty cops, Sawyer. At least you actually  _ care.  _ I’m just saying, you should skip this one. Give Supergirl a call or something. Word on the street is that she talks to you sometimes. These aliens, they aren’t like her. Ain’t afraid to use their powers to kill people. I’ve seen one snap a man’s neck with a blink and a brite-lite show. It’s crazy!” Billy said, and threw his hands up.

This was another reason Maggie used Billy as an informant rather than just throwing him in prison. He was stupid, but he wasn’t without a conscious. He honestly thought he could find the ‘perfect high’ by experimenting, and--after a few plea deals that included a stipulation for getting his GED, which in itself would have required him to learn a little chemistry--he hasn’t released any life threatening drugs on the streets in a little over nine months. Progress.

“I know what they’re about,” Maggie said and gave him a little space. “We’re already investigating a murder one of them committed. They need to be brought in and off the streets before they hurt more people. Supergirl’s interested in stopping them, and the feds are supporting this investigation too. This is the real deal, Billy. There’s no need to be afraid on my behalf, though I appreciate it.”

Billy bit his lip as he thought over everything. “You’ll get me out of here?” He finally asked.

“When’s the last time you visited your Mom? Lives in Star City, right?”

“Yeah…. Alright, fine. Just… don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Billy sighed. “Yeah, they wanted to sell me some stuff from their home planet or something. Said it would give my stuff a real kick. Make people see shit and stuff. But it was all glowy, and I remember you said that if it’s glowy, then it’s probably toxic to humans at least. I politely turned them down. Said I wanted to keep my prices low or some bullshit. But they’ve been canvassing all the sellers I know since. Some of have taken the deal, most haven’t. Don’t know these guys, see? Don’t know if they’re about to sell us something that’ll kill folks. Even the big guys don’t want that. Shrinks the customer base, right?”

“They didn’t get upset with you for turning them down?” Maggie asked. “That why they killed that guy you mentioned?”

“Nah. Vincent was just stupid. He tried to take the shit the aliens were pushing and sell it off himself to some black market dude. I don’t know the details, okay? All I know is that the  _ only  _ thing these aliens want you to use their stuff for is in drugs. If you try to flip it yourself, or squeal on them, they kill you. I mean, they didn’t seem to mind too much when I turned them down. Just kinda spun it as me making a huge mistake, ‘missing an opportunity’ the guy said. I mean, whatever. They give me a  _ bad  _ feeling. I think I’m pretty good where I’m at,” Billy said with a nod.

Maggie rubbed her eyebrow. This was about drugs. On the one hand, this was such a  _ mundane  _ crime to base a criminal syndicate behind, on the other, Maggie didn’t think these guys came all the way from the other side of the galaxy  _ just  _ to sell tainted drugs. There was more to this, there  _ had  _ to be. It didn’t make sense otherwise.

“There is  _ one  _ more thing,” Billy said after a moment of silence.

Maggie motioned for him to continue.

“Now, don’t go taking this as a sure thing, or nothing. This is just something that’s been going around. Word is, their leader is looking for something.  _ Someone.  _ Been sending out some of his guys to search the city block by block if they have to. Don’t know who it is exactly. Some of the rumors say it’s a woman, a jilted lady friend or something. Some say it’s his long lost kid gone rogue or something. I don’t know. I just know that they’re getting spotted farther and farther from the warehouse district.”

Maggie’s blood ran cold. Now she had a suspected motive for Jamie’s mother. If the rumor mill was in any way accurate, which could sometimes happen, it suggested that Jamie and her mother weren’t random targets. Maggie had a theory that Jamie’s mother had been working in the syndicate and had done something to earn their disfavor. It wasn’t uncommon in gangs. But this went far beyond the pale of gaining ‘disfavor.’ Now Maggie was looking at a deadly custody battle, and Jamie’s only remaining parent was a crime lord. Potentially. None of this was confirmed, but Billy was a reliable contact. He wasn’t the brightest, but he knew how to listen. Hell, maybe he was smarter than Maggie gave him credit for. He certainly made all the right decisions in this case.

If there was any good news in Billy’s information, it was a potential location for the Is’ae base of operations.  _ Very  _ potential. The ‘warehouse district’ was about as specific as ‘downtown’ or ‘the docks.’ Maggie predicted a lot of stakeouts in the future.

“Alright, Billy. I’m a woman of my word. Sit tight, I’ll set you up with a hotel room and a plane ticket for tomorrow. I hope you’re happy with coach. The NCPD isn’t exactly rich,” Maggie said as she stood up.

Billy grunted, but he seemed happy enough with what Maggie was giving him.

As she left the room, Maggie couldn’t help but feel like she was getting closer and closer to something awfully fishy. Jamie’s involvement was likely a family matter, but she didn’t like the Is’ae syndicate’s focus on drugs. Maggie had been introduced to a variety of movies thanks to the Danvers Sisters, and this all stunk of something out of one their cheesy sci-fi movies. Not that she could write that up on a report of her captain.

_ Evidence in this case is coming from ‘my gut’ and a general knowledge of black and white science fiction movies. Further testimony from my informant, a skittish drug dealer. _

Yeah, he was never going to go for that.

Paperwork was never Maggie’s favorite part of her job. But this time, she payed particular attention to what she was doing. The last thing she needed was for her requests to be denied on some bullshit technicality. Billy needed out of the city,  _ fast,  _ and Maggie was going to ensure that happened. Thankfully, it didn’t take as long as something like a crime scene work up, and Maggie was soon able to bring her folders to the officer handling filing.

Who happened to be Harris.

Oh, joy.

“Harris,” Maggie grunted out as politely as she possibly could. She could be an adult about this. Definitely. “I need this filed. Please.”

Harris glared at her nastily. “IA put me on desk duty. One of your  _ favors?”  _ He sneered.

Maggie shrugged carelessly. “Nope. All IA this time. Might wanna reign in the attitude in case they’ve found something. Are you gonna file this, or not?”

He snatched the folder from her hand and scowled. “Going home to that alien kid you picked up? Can’t be much more than animals if you can just take one in like a stray dog.”

Maggie clenched her fist and tried her best to count down from ten. When that didn’t help, she started over from twenty. Harris had her at a disadvantage here. They were in public, the station no less, and Maggie couldn’t kick his ass without jeopardizing the IA investigation. If she tried to verbally tear him a new asshole, she would probably just end up coming off as hysterical to witnesses. Women weren’t allowed to get angry in public, sexist bullshit as that was. A brown, gay woman, no less.

“Funny,” Maggie said through gritted teeth. “Kid has better manners than you do, and can eat without dribbling her lunch all over herself,” she said, pointing at Harris’s stained shirt. He must have had spaghetti or something from that orange-ish stain.

Harris’s face reddened once he looked down and spotted said stain. “Fuck off, Sawyer. Some of us have jobs to do.”

“Yeah,” Maggie said with a snort. “Don’t overstrain yourself. I’m sure Google knows the alphabet if you have trouble later.”

It was juvenile, immature, and probably not worth the effort ultimately, but Maggie just couldn’t help herself. She was smarter than a man like Harris could ever hope to be. If he wanted to shit talk, she’d show him how it was done. Harris didn’t even have anything to say as she left him to whatever boring work he’d been saddled with.

All that mattered was that she made some progress, and was finishing up relatively early. If she left now, she might be able to catch Alex and Jamie before they went to the airport to pick up Eliza.

That thought had her straightening up her desk, swinging her jacket on, and heading to her motorcycle in record time. Alex had taken Jamie grocery shopping for the first time. She  _ really  _ wanted to know what kind of bind Alex probably got herself into. The kid’s cute appeal was positively deadly when she was asking for something, and Maggie was  _ certain  _ Alex had caved to something.

She really wanted to find out what that was.

So, when she finally got to their front door, eager to hear Jamie chatter about the day she had, and ready to tease Alex mercilessly for being the pushover she just  _ knew  _ her wife was, the last thing she expected was to open the door and find the kid waiting  _ right  _ on the other side of it with her arms crossed and glaring at Maggie.

“Whoa,” Maggie said, nearly running Jamie over. “What’s up?”

Jamie’s eyes narrowed further, and Maggie started to wonder if she’d forgotten something. Not that she had any idea just  _ what  _ that might be. But the kid was glaring at her as if she’d given away her new stuffed animal collection. Jamie was right in the middle of giving the  _ many  _ Kara had gifted her each, individual names. Apparently there was a process, and ‘Maggie, they  _ gotta  _ have their own names! They might get their feelings hurt!’

“Why do you call Alex a nerd? That’s not  _ nice.” _

The kid delivered that question in such a no nonsense manner that Maggie  _ almost  _ felt like she was a perp in an interrogation room. But that was ridiculous, and Maggie refused to be cowed by a five year old. But she could appreciate a good bad cop routine, nonetheless.

Behind Jamie, Maggie’s  _ lovely  _ wife had arms crossed, phone clandestinely held in the crook of her elbow and pointed at them sneakily. She was biting her lip  _ hard  _ and Maggie just knew she was trying not to burst her ribs by laughing.

_ Oh,  _ Maggie was going to be getting her back for this.

“It’s a joke, kid” Maggie said finally. “I don’t mean it like other people do.”

Except that didn’t seem to get Jamie any further off her back. “That’s what bullies say on TV! That they’re joking!”

Maggie leveled a withering glare straight to Alex. This kid was apparently the stubborn type and wasn’t going to let Maggie off the hook until she was satisfied that  _ poor _ Alex wasn’t getting ‘bullied.’

Well, she was  _ definitely  _ going to make absolute certain that Alex got saddled with the ‘sex talk’ in the coming years for this. She could imagine Alex’s red and sputtering face perfectly in her mind. That… or her nerdy wife would break out all kinds of diagrams and learning material. Huh, now there was a thought. She didn’t know who was more likely to be embarrassed by that talk in the future. Alex, because she was giving a sex talk, or Jamie who would probably end up subjected to an overly detailed lesson complete with pictures. Possibly even an educational video.

Yep, Maggie was going definitely getting her revenge and filming her own embarrassing video. It didn’t matter that this was probably  _ at least  _ five to eight years into the future. Maggie could be patient.

“What did Alex tell you?” Maggie asked curiously. Did Alex completely throw her under the bus, or did she try to do some damage control? Because depending on the answer would determine the degree in which Maggie would set Jamie on her  _ wonderful  _ wife later.

Jamie’s brow furrowed. “She said you love that she’s a nerd. But why would you make fun of her for being smart?  _ You’re  _ smart too.”

It was adorable that kids apparently just blurted out what they thought of you, but Maggie couldn’t preen under the compliment. Jamie was impatiently waiting for her to answer the question.

“I do love that she’s smart. It’s one of the things I love most about Alex. But it’s called ‘teasing.’ I’m playing with her. Just like when she makes fun of me for being short,” Maggie tried to explain, but by the way Jamie’s eyes widened, she might have missed the mark.

“Alex makes fun of you for being  _ short?”  _ She spun around and gave Alex her own turn under Jamie’s best rendition of a glare. It was adorable. “That’s not nice, either,  _ Alex!” _

Maggie couldn’t help it. She just  _ barely  _ choked back a laugh. Jamie turned back to her suspiciously for just a moment, but soon went back to glaring at Alex after Maggie threw on her best poker face. Alex was grimacing now that Maggie turned the tables, but Maggie figured that this was poetic justice.

“Well…. Just like Maggie said, we’re just teasing,” Alex said after she gave Maggie an unimpressed look. To be fair to Alex, she was still filming all this, so it wasn’t as if she was leaving Maggie hanging in this video. “It’s a game. Maggie really does love that I’m smart, and I love everything about Maggie, so….”

Maggie rolled her eyes, but she felt her stomach flutter nonetheless over the comment. Her wife was such a dork. On top of being a gigantic nerd.

“Neither of us are getting hurt feelings,” Maggie jumped in, figuring that they were in this together now. “Don’t worry.”

Jamie’s nose scrunched, not happy with their answers. “Humans are weird. I don’t get it. You guys say mean things to say you love each other?”

“Yep,” Maggie chuckled. “I guess it’ll just take you some practice to be able to spot the difference. General rule of thumb is that a good joke or tease is one that gets the person you’re messing with laughing too. It’s not a joke if everyone isn’t laughing.”

The dubious look Jamie shot her let Maggie know that the kid didn’t figure she’d  _ ever  _ get used to this, but Maggie wasn’t too worried. Living with Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer would get her pretty damn fluent in the art of teasing soon enough.

“I’m hungry,” Jamie announced, clearly giving up on this conversation as a lost cause. Maggie snorted at the thought of the kid writing them off as weirdos.

“Well, I think it’s time to introduce you to another human classic,” Alex said with a grin. “Grilled cheese. Maggie, could you get Jamie set up with some cartoons and help me in the kitchen?”

The expression on Alex’s face said something different. It was her ‘I need to talk to you  _ now,’  _ face.

That couldn’t be good.

Jamie was easy to set up on the TV. She spotted some cartoon with dogs in various first responder uniforms and said to looked ‘cool.’ Seemed innocent enough. Gertrude was even happy to curl right up to Jamie, though Gerdie took up about half the couch on her own.

With Jamie taken care of, Maggie could find out what Alex wanted to talk to her about. There were a few things Maggie wanted to tell her too. Billy had given more credence to their fears over Jamie getting targeted by this syndicate. It wasn’t a coincidence that Jamie and her mother were here on Earth, apparently still new the planet, at the same time a new criminal group was setting up, made up of the same and apparently rare species as them.

“What’s up?” Maggie asked as Alex started buttering bread. She was focusing awfully hard on getting  _ just  _ the right amount of butter on said bread. It made Maggie tense. Alex avoided eye contact when she wanted to give bad news to just about anyone except suspects.

“Jamie’s fake aunt wanted to take her today,” Alex said bluntly. Like ripping off a bandaid, and it had Maggie gritting her teeth.

_ “What?!”  _ She couldn’t help it. She wasn’t just mad, she was  _ furious.  _ Billy hadn’t just given her a rumor, what he told her was flat out true, and that frightened Maggie more than she could say.

“Shh!” Alex said, looking back towards the living room.

But Maggie was far from pleased. “Danvers, why the  _ hell  _ didn’t you call me? Or, hell, even better, Kara?” But she did keep it to a harsh whisper. She didn’t want to upset Jamie any more than Alex did. “Whoever wanted to take Jamie could easily kill either of us. Until we find out a way to neutralize their powers, any hostile Is’ae we meet could do whatever they want to us!”

“I’ve already told J’onn. The DEO are investigated the syndicate directly while your team handles the murder. I didn’t need backup, Maggie. Trust me, you and Kara would have been the first I called if I got the chance. Someone was already there to back me up,” Alex said with a scowl.

Maggie had a feeling she knew who this ‘someone’ was. “Our stalker?” She guessed.

Alex sighed. “We might have to rename her. The other Is’ae, I think  _ she’s  _ stalking us. The purple one ‘protecting us’ might just be the real deal.”

Maggie’s mind raced as she processed everything Alex had just told her. Because those two sentences were chock full of information.

“‘Purple?’” She didn’t know much about Jamie’s people, and apparently that was par the course for now. Until she or Alex could track down another alien familiar with Is’ae, they really knew nothing about them.

“Their powers apparently aren’t all the same color,” Alex shrugged. “The one that tried to take Jamie today was green. That was when our ‘friend’ showed up again. She’s following us. She told me that was her mission. She’s from the future, and was sent back here by  _ me,  _ because she works for the DEO, and is trying to prevent the ‘Sawyer-Danvers’ family from getting murdered.”

“Family?” Maggie grinned, unable to keep what was probably a big, dopey, and dimpled smile, that Alex was probably going to tease her about later, from taking over her face.

Alex chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Too bad they couldn’t focus on that for too long, though. Because now Maggie had to worry about a potential kidnapper, and a crazy person following them for their ‘protection.’

“But  _ time travel?”  _ Maggie scoffed. “She must think we’re stupid.”

Except Alex didn’t laugh with her. “Yeah…. About that.”

“No. No  _ way.  _ I know you’re not about to tell me that time travel is  _ real,”  _ Maggie said, and threw her hands up. “You damn feds, keeping all the cool crap to yourselves. I better get that damn grenade, Danvers. Bad enough you kept me from them for this long, but now I have to find out  _ years  _ after I’ve met you that fucking time travel is a thing? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Her wife smiled sheepishly. “Kara’s friend, Barry? From the other Earth?”

“The fast one?” Maggie asked.

“Yep, that one. He’s the one that kind of ‘discovered’ time travel and told us. Seems like he can literally go fast enough to tear into time.”

“Well, damn.”

“Yeah. That was pretty much what I said,” Alex snorted. “So, it’s  _ possible  _ that our friend is telling the truth. She knew the one that tried to attack us today. They knew each other.”

“Any names?” Maggie asked as she rubbed her forehead. This was all getting ridiculous. Time travelers, stalkers, kidnappers, crime syndicates. When did it all end?

“Of course not,” Alex said, completely disgruntled. “It was like they avoided calling each other by their names on purpose.”

“Think they’re actually in it together? One of them tries to take the kid by force, and if that doesn’t work out, then they have a backup plan of the other one getting on our good side and just taking the kid when we let our guards down,” Maggie said.

Alex shook her head as she flipped the grilled cheeses. She was making at least two for Jamie. “I don’t think so. I mean, the purple one knows a lot about us. Like, she knew exactly what was bothering me today when I questioned her. Said that I was getting antsy because I didn’t feel in control. Maggie, she was  _ right.  _ Aside from the threat to Jamie, I  _ hate  _ that we don’t have any answers, and that there’s apparently this huge, time traveling mission and I don’t get to know anything about it.”

“She knew I didn’t appreciate all the bullshit when she visited me,” Maggie reluctantly agreed. “Maybe she knows who we are in the future.”

“She said I was her superior,” Alex confirmed.

“Yeah, but you’re practically everyone’s superior in the DEO. You’re Jonn’s second in command. Are you her boss, or do you have a relationship with her that’s more like yours with J’onn? That’d make a pretty big difference,” Maggie pointed out.

“If,  _ if,  _ the time traveling thing is true,” Alex started as she plated the sandwiches. “The only thing that would make sense is that either we’re somewhat close and I trust her,  _ or  _ she’s extremely competent. Because she told me that she was the only one sent. I wouldn’t just send  _ anyone  _ to protect our family from a temporal threat. This could erase everything we care about,  _ if  _ it’s true.”

“I want to talk to her again,” Maggie grumbled. “And we need to find out a way to keep her from doing her little disappearing act. I want answers. She knows something that she’s not telling us. Something’s off.”

Alex snorted. “Well, if she’s from the future, she’s going to know  _ everything.  _ She’s not going to just tell us whatever we want to hear. Even if it won’t actually change anything. Can you imagine how long that conversation would take? When she’s  _ supposed  _ to be shadowing Jamie?”

“No,” Maggie insisted. “I mean, she’s keeping something  _ big  _ from us. Why not tell us her name if it wasn’t something that mattered? How does she know us? She knows where to find us day to day, where we work, apparently what supermarket we shop at, knows enough about us to guess what we’re thinking. That’s beyond a simple work relationship.”

Flashes of that meeting replayed in Maggie’s mind as she spoke. Words that the stranger said that seemed like smart ass comments at the time suddenly stood out as something…  _ more. _

And Maggie wasn’t sure if she liked where her thoughts were going.

On the one hand, if what Maggie was thinking was actually true, then the stranger was probably far less dangerous than Maggie had originally feared. On the other, she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. Going back in time, without backup, to prevent calamity happening to them personally. That had to be a lot of pressure.

_ If  _ what the stranger was claiming was true.

Alex shrugged helplessly. “I’ll go into the DEO tomorrow. I’ll take Jamie with me if she doesn’t want to stay with my mom. But I want to find out if there’s  _ anything  _ we can do to get this Is’ae to stay in one spot so we can get some answers. Maybe Alura’s hologram knows something. If J’onn doesn’t like it, then… well,  _ tough.” _

But Maggie could tell how uncomfortable Alex was with that. Her face was pinched, and she very nearly choked on that last bit.

“Is that what you’re going to tell him?” Maggie teased. “‘Tough?’ I think I want to be there for that one. If you wait for me to get off, we can all go.”

“I  _ can  _ stand up to J’onn when I need to,” Alex grumbled indignantly.

“I know, babe,” Maggie said placatingly. “But there’s a difference between when he actually pisses you off, and… this craziness we’re dealing with. Honestly, he might just let you off this time without a lecture. So long as you stay out of the field and don’t work longer than a few hours. Hell, you’ll hear from  _ me  _ if you do any of that.”

“Fine, Sawyer, I’ll be good,” Alex said and rolled her eyes. “We have a plan, then? Because I better get Jamie fed before she starves to death. That alien metabolism might make us take out a loan between her and Kara….”

“Please, Danvers. I know you help Kara eat all that junk food. If I ask Jamie, is she going to tell me about anything she weaseled out of you today?”

“Jamie’s right, you  _ are  _ mean. Calling me fat on top of nerd now?” Alex smirked, but then ducked her head. “ImighthaveletherbuySkittles.”

Maggie’s own mouth twitched in triumph. “What was that, Danvers? I can’t understand mumble.” She wanted to  _ hear  _ Alex say it.

“I let her get some Skittles,” Alex grumbled. “Happy?”

“Oh, Danvers,” Maggie said as she threw her head back and laughed. “You have  _ no  _ idea. I’m  _ so  _ going to tell Eliza and Aunt Laura that you’re the pushover between the two of us!”

“You better not!” Alex threatened. “I’ll hide your damn vegan ice cream!”

“Is that the worst you got? It’ll be way worth it if that’s the case. And don’t think I’ve forgotten how you sicced Jamie on me. I’ve got something  _ planned  _ for you.”

_ “Pfft.  _ Bring it on, Sawyer. I’ll be ready for anything.”

Maggie grinned evilly. “Really? We’ll see. Wait for it, Danvers. It might not be today. Or even tomorrow. You might think I ended up forgetting it. But, trust me, I’ve already got something in mind, and I want to see it badly enough that I’m  _ going  _ to remember.”

Alex was silent for several beats. “Maggie, I think you’ve been spending too much time at the DEO. Because that was a villain’s speech if I’ve ever heard one.”

Maggie only smirked and winked as she went to collect the kid. She was the smooth one. Had to be sure to remind Alex of that every once in awhile. Lest she get any ideas like setting Jamie on her again. Oh, Maggie was certain her plan was going to pay off the day it finally came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Maggie's got her plate full with the investigation and a potential work issue. Kind of wanted to do a dichotomy foil thing with Billy and Harris. One's a drug dealer, stereotypically thought of as not the brightest or most ethical, and the other is a cop supposed to 'protect and serve.' Yet, both of them are acting much differently than the idealized norm.
> 
> Jamie is putting these two on their toes. I honestly don't know who would come out the worse after a sex talk, Alex or Jamie. I might just write a one shot with that conversation after I get farther into this story and settle their relationships a little more firmly in order to characterize it properly. Because now that I've thought about it, I want to see how it pans out. We'll see what happens.
> 
> Maggie's putting the pieces together. More than that, I do think she knows exactly what's going on with our time traveling friend. She's just not going to say it aloud until she gets confirmation that time travel is actually a thing.
> 
> Yeah, I just can't imagine that either Alex or Maggie would just be 'Hur-dur? What's going on?? Man, this sure is a mystery!' Both of them are intelligent and investigative, and I can't STAND IT when writers in practically anything from books to movies to videogames hand their characters the idiot ball in order to make the plot artificially seem more mysterious than it actually is.
> 
> As for me, I've been able to go back to work. Mandatory evac is still in effect in my hometown because of our flooding and how it's affecting the sewer system. So, I'm still stuck with the grandparents.... Yeah.... At least I'm getting out of the house. And getting paid time and a half too. That's always welcome.


	10. Ten

Alex couldn’t help it. She was nervous. Habit left over from trying to make her mother’s visits more about damage control than pleasant. Which, to be fair, Eliza’s visits since the Thanksgiving she came out have been nothing short of nice, but this somehow felt different. Besides marrying Maggie--who Eliza seemed to adore more than either of her daughters at times (especially when she finds out Alex or Kara have done something risky on missions)--Alex hasn’t had any life altering news to deliver to her mother. If Jamie’s placement, pending a visit from CPS, panned out then they were looking at something that would be  _ extremely  _ permanent.

And Alex had a lingering feeling of nervousness that Eliza wouldn’t approve in some way. Despite the encouragement her mother has already given her, despite the advice. Alex wanted this to go perfectly.

“Alex?” Maggie asked and interrupted Alex’s endless worrying. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah,” Alex answered, much too quickly for it to be a genuine response. “Yep. Okay. More than okay. I’m--”

“Alright. So, I’m adding a new rule,” Maggie huffed. “If you say the word ‘fine’ in any capacity that is less than honest, you have to add money to the swear jar.”

“It’s not a swear!” Alex protested hotly, and maybe a little childishly.

“Don’t care, Danvers. ‘I’m fine’ has to be  _ the  _ thing you lie about the most,” Maggie grumbled. “We both know you’re less than fine and probably moments from freaking out. So, wanna skip the pretending you’re ‘fine’ part? It’d save us a lot of frustration and time. Your mom’s plane is deboarding right now.”

Alex glanced down at Jamie, who was peering into the crowd of tired, harried plane passengers flowing past them as she had any idea what Eliza looked like. The last thing she wanted was for Jamie to overhear this conversation. She sighed and pitched her voice lower.

“What if she thinks I’m not ready for this?”

It didn’t matter that Alex  _ knew  _ she could handle this. Alex has spent a good deal of her teenage and adult life doing things her mother disapproved of. But the disapproval didn’t sting any less, no matter how much Alex pretended she didn’t care. Because, the fact of the matter was, Alex  _ did  _ care. Very much so. She and her mother may have had a strained relationship for several years, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want for things to go back to way they had been. Before her father had ‘died’ and she had been virtually perfect in both her parents’ eyes.

By now, Eliza lauded praise onto Alex for work--there had been a few more cases they brought Eliza into for her alien biology expertise--her relationship with Maggie, her continued support of Kara, but this felt different. Maybe it was because Alex was doing something that her mother had pretty much succeeded in to its totality. Raising Kara to become a productive member of society hadn’t been easy. She’d started off weird, depressed, and confused. For a time, Alex hadn’t wanted anything to do with her, and the bulk of the work in teaching, comforting, and supporting Kara had fallen to her parents. And sure, Alex had stepped up amazingly later, but that still didn’t at all erase the fact that her mother had been on Kara’s side from the very beginning.

Alex was afraid she wouldn’t be able to measure up to her mother’s example with Jamie.

“Didn’t she say the exact opposite when you called her?” Maggie reminded her.

“What if she changed her mind?” Alex asked seriously. It was probably silly, but that was honestly what Alex was afraid of. That her mother had boarded this plane, and had hours to herself to think about what Alex and Maggie were actually doing and realizing that it was a mistake.

“What are you afraid of, Alex?” Maggie asked; blunt, direct, and straight to the point.

Alex was silent for several moments, thinking of whether or not she wanted to come clean with her real feelings. Ultimately, this  _ was  _ Maggie. Her wife, the only person, aside from Kara, who seemed to spot her real feelings. And even Kara sometimes missed the mark when she became caught up on her own life.

“You would have never known how  _ weird  _ Kara was just by looking at her. She can be over enthusiastic, too cheery, and excitable, but nothing comes even  _ close  _ to how she was when she first came to us. She didn’t even know the language. She lived on a planet that was literally  _ centuries  _ further than us in technology. She didn’t understand anything when she got here. And that’s not even mentioning the amount of grief she was dealing with. She lost everything. How do you pick up the pieces and move on when everything you’ve ever known has been destroyed?” Alex smiled sadly.

“Probably why she’s so upbeat,” Maggie guessed. “Keeps the sadness away.”

She blinked and stared at Maggie for a moment. Alex hadn’t met very many people who realized that about Kara. That, underneath all the happiness and sunshine, Kara masked  _ a lot  _ of pain. And did so in order not to get mired in the depression that was still there, no matter how much time passed. Alex knew that Kara hadn’t  _ really  _ healed from what happened. She scarred over and did her best to juggle everything that came with her new normal. And, honestly, she’s been doing a damn good job of it for the past fifteen years or so.

“I’m pretty good at burying feelings myself,” Maggie answered Alex’s unspoken surprise. “I know what it looks like. Which is pretty much what I’m trying to keep  _ you  _ from doing right now.”

“My mom did an amazing job with Kara, what if she thinks I can’t do the same with Jamie?” Alex just blurted it out.

Maggie held up a hand. “Stop right there, Danvers. You’re coming at this from the wrong angle. Your mom wasn’t the only person there for Kara. You and your dad made a difference too. They way she talks about all three of you makes that obvious. Do you really think Eliza helped a weird alien kid adjust to the brutal, ridiculous world of junior high politics? I don’t think so. I’m sure she did the heavy lifting when it came to the grieving process, but helping a kid learn how to be… well, a kid? That’s the thing only a peer can help with. You two are a year apart. Do you have any idea how much that had to have helped Kara learn to be normal? You were right there whenever she needed you. When school was too much, how many times were you right there in the building to step in? When kids were assholes, how many did you end up beating up? I  _ know  _ you got into a few fights for her, Danvers. There’s no way you would have taken your little sister getting bullied sitting down.”

She had a point. Alex had been a little nerdy. Okay, maybe a  _ lot  _ nerdy, but she’d asked her dad how to throw a proper punch right before he disappeared. The way he looked at her and pondered the question for a moment led Alex to believe that he knew  _ exactly  _ why she had asked him to teach her. He still did it all the same, and Alex concluded that he never would have done so if he didn’t approve of her defending Kara. Made weathering her mother’s lectures after each fight that much more bearable.

“Yeah, but that all came later,” Alex admitted, still ashamed of her behavior directly after Kara literally was dropped into their lives. “I wasn’t all that kind to her when she first came to live with us.

Maggie let out a long breath. “Okay. You seriously need to sit down and have this conversation with Kara too. Because I’m sure she’d tell you she understands where you were coming from. It’d be good for the both of you. But, she not here, so I’ll tell you it too. Alex, you were  _ fourteen.  _ And you got blindsided by this weird, alien kid who you’re also told is supposed to be your brand, spanking, new sister. Do I have to tell you that’s about as far from normal as it could possibly be? Most kids get to have nine months to adjust to the idea of having a new sibling. Hell, if your parents had decided to foster or adopt an at risk teenager? You still would have had time to adjust because of the glacial pace CPS moves at. You were an only child, and probably spoiled half to death by  _ at least  _ your dad, and suddenly have to learn how to share  _ everything.  _ Don’t care how old you are, that has to suck. Especially when you only had, what? A few days,  _ if that,  _ to know it was coming? Come on, Danvers, that wasn’t fair to you. It wasn’t fair to Kara either. Getting dumped onto a family that was pretty much forced to take her in because her only remaining family wasn’t ‘ready’ to raise her himself.

“I mean, sure I guess it’s better he realized that before he did something to scar the poor kid for life, but there  _ has got  _ to be a middle ground between ‘taking in my grieving, teenage cousin and failing to parent her properly because I’m barely out of college and have no life experience’ and ‘dumping her onto a group of strangers she doesn’t know days after she just arrived on the planet.’ Couldn’t he have set up a few meetings to introduce everyone? Taken a vacation and gone to his parents--who do know how to take care of a Kryptonian kid--and helped her at least adjust to her powers and Earth’s culture before finding a more permanent solution? How often did he visit her, anyway? That’s the one part of the story Kara’s never actually mentioned. Makes me think he didn’t make an effort,” Maggie scowled and crossed her arms after her rant.

Never has Alex loved her wife more than this moment. Okay, perhaps that was an exaggeration, but it was so  _ nice  _ to hear that someone else didn’t think as highly of the Man of Steel as the rest of world did. J’onn wasn’t enamoured with him either, but he wasn’t exactly the ranting type. And Alex couldn’t talk about this with her mother or Kara, because they respected Clark far too much for that conversation to go anywhere. Besides, criticizing Clark wasn’t going to make Kara feel any better about her situation. In Alex’s mind, she forgave him too easily and didn’t hold him accountable for his choices as strictly as Alex would, but that wasn’t her place to point out. Kara probably ignored a lot just to keep their relationship intact. He  _ was  _ her last remaining blood relative, after all. Alex kept her mouth shut until such a time when Clark did something he  _ really  _ shouldn’t have.  _ Then  _ Alex would step in.

“He didn’t,” Alex confirmed. “Made some excuses about not wanting to attract attention to us from his enemies, but I really just think she scared him.”

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Maggie scoffed, but softened. “Alex, both Eliza and Aunt Laura know what it is to take in a kid that needs somebody. They know how hard it is, and that it’s not a decision we made lightly, even if we made it quickly. I mean, isn’t that exactly what they did? Kara was dumped on your doorstep by Superman, and I walked my way to my aunt’s in the pouring rain. Neither of them had any real choice to say no. Not without some dire consequences to both of us. Kara could have become a government experiment, and I would have just ended up as another LGBT homeless teen. A nameless statistic. Realistically, they had to have known that. We actually had the luxury of choice with Jamie. Aliens aren’t as scary and monstrous to some people anymore. We could have found a good family to take her in, and in a much less traumatizing way than Clark did. But we didn’t do that because we  _ want  _ to help Jamie. I don’t know, I like to think that’s going to help us take off a  _ lot  _ of stress with this. One day, the kid’s going to realize that we took her in because we wanted  _ her.  _ I don’t know about Kara, but I still feel like a burden to Aunt Laura sometimes,” Maggie admitted.

“With the amount of pictures she takes of you?” Alex joked, but with a watery smile. “Please, Sawyer. Laura loves you like her own.”

“Yeah. Maybe she does,” Maggie agreed quietly, much to Alex’s surprise. Maggie wasn’t great at admitting her feelings. Not with anyone besides Alex, and this was probably the  _ one  _ place her life that Maggie still had problems even being open with Alex. She knew that Maggie and her aunt were closer than Maggie liked to admit, but that didn’t mean  _ Maggie  _ was ready to even begin sorting through those feelings. It seemed her wife has made some progress on that point without Alex.

“But my point,” Maggie continued quickly, “is that neither of our remaining parental figures are going to jump down our throats for fostering a kid. In fact, I bet they’re both going to be  _ super  _ annoying. Taking a ton of pictures. Telling embarrassing stories. Buying the kid a mountain of presents. Typical grandma behavior. We’ll probably have to reign them in during this visit.”

‘Grandma’ behavior. Alex couldn’t say that the thought didn’t make her smile.

“Thank you,” Alex said, aware that she didn’t have to elaborate. Maggie knew. She’d known Alex was feeling self-conscious. She’d known just what to say to calm Alex down. She just knew Alex. And Alex loved her for it.

Before they could get  _ too  _ lost in staring in each other’s eyes, Jamie pulled on Alex’s arm impatiently. “More people are coming!”

Sure enough, another crowd of passengers were disembarking. It only took a moment for Alex to spot her mother and wave her over. Eliza smiled warmly when she saw that all three of them were there to greet her, and it didn’t take her too long for her gaze to settle on Jamie. Not for too long, probably in order not to make Jamie self-conscious, but Alex was relieved to see that her mother’s smile seemed to grow wider.

“Girls! It’s so good to see you,” Eliza greeted and hugged Alex and Maggie tightly. She knelt down to Jamie’s eye-level. It reminded Alex of her mother meeting Kara for the first time, so long ago. Not that she needed to kneel during that introduction. Teenage Kara had been a willowy thing.

“Hi!” Jamie chirped, much more accustomed to meeting new people now. It’s been something she’s had to do for several days now. Made sense that she was getting a lot of practice at it.

“Hello,” Eliza chuckled.

“Jamie, this is my mom,” Alex introduced them. “Mom, this is Jamie.”

“You can call me Eliza.”

Jamie stuck out her hand, copying Lena’s example from their meeting. Maggie failed to stifle a snort at the sight. Eliza took Jamie’s offered hand and shook easily, smiling all the while. Alex didn’t blame her. It was adorable.

“You can call me Jamie,” Jamie repeated, in completely seriousness.

Alex had no idea what they were going to do with this kid. She was something else.

Eliza laughed outright at that, and it was fortunate that Jamie was beginning to get accustomed to having people laugh good naturedly at her. She wasn’t suspicious that Eliza was laughing at her this time.

“Well, Jamie, I got you something. An ‘I’m glad to meet you’ present.”

Jamie frowned. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“That’s okay,” Eliza was fast and effortless with reassurance. Made Alex a little jealous, though her mother  _ was  _ a bit more practiced at the parenting thing. “Get Alex to help you with this. That can be my present.” She pulled out a K'nex set from her luggage. “Alex and her dad used to build these all the time.”

A sledgehammer of emotions bludgeoned their way into Alex’s body as she saw the box. She was touched that her mother had been thoughtful enough to gift Jamie something that would include her father in the only way they possibly could. Saddened that Jeremiah couldn’t meet Jamie. Angry that the only reason he couldn’t meet her was that he was still at large. Had he made different choices, he could have easily been here today.

But Alex didn’t want to get into her even more complicated emotions about her father. She pushed those back into the box she kept them in, and smiled at her mother. Despite all the heavier feelings, she was still grateful Eliza had bought the set. Alex hadn’t touched one since she was about ten, and she and Jeremiah had moved on to other things to do together. This present came from a time before, well,  _ everything _ . It was a memory that Alex shared only with her father, and wasn’t tainted by anything that came later.

And to be honest, her inner nerd was  _ super  _ excited to open it up and share with Jamie. Maybe this present was as much for Alex as it was for Jamie.

Maggie must have spotted Alex’s excitement, because Alex soon felt a gentle elbow to side--the uninjured one because Maggie was probably more conscious of her ribs than Alex herself was--and smirking at her. “Do I even need to guess that you and your dad were the type to make robots out of these things?”

Eliza snorted. “Oh, you have  _ no  _ idea. For a few years, Alex was convinced she could roboticize just about everything in the house. It only got worse when that Star Wars movie came out, and Ani-whoever made C-3D2 or whatever its name was.”

_ “Mom,”  _ Alex said, scandalized. “Their names are Anakin and  _ C-3PO.  _ Sure, that movie is far from being the best one, but I know you’ve seen it more than once during movie nights.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve fallen asleep during more movie nights than I can even begin to guess,” Eliza said as she stood up.

“I don’t know what’s nerdier,” Maggie snickered. “The fact that you tried to make your own Star Wars droid, or that you're this scandalized someone got the characters’ names wrong.”

“Hey, you’ve seen them as many times as I have!” Alex protested. “Weren’t you the one who bought our tickets for the last episode the  _ moment  _ they came out and then insisted we wait in line for  _ six hours  _ to get good seats?”

“Star Wars is a permanent piece of Americana,” Maggie said primly. “As well as a pioneer in special effects. If you  _ don’t  _ like Star Wars, even a little bit, you’re a weirdo. I’m not the one who tried to recreate Threepio.”

“I didn’t try to  _ recreate  _ him! Threepio was clumsily and badly designed! I was  _ trying  _ to improve on his concept!”

Maggie threw up her hands. “I don’t know what to tell you, Danvers.  _ That  _ is the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard you say. I don’t even know how you can seriously argue against it at this point. ‘Improve on his concept?’ Did you forget what we were even debating?”

Alex flushed as she realized she walked right into Maggie’s hand.

“They do this all the time,” Jamie not so quietly whispered to Eliza. Alex had sort of forgotten they were even there. “They  _ say  _ they call each other mean stuff because they love each other. I don’t get it. But they gotta love each other a lot. ‘Cause they argue about this all the time. This and if Maggie’s short or not.”

Maggie ended up just as red as Alex was feeling. It wasn’t often that they bantered so freely in front of Eliza.

But her mother only laughed at them. Hard.

“Oh, yes,” she said between chuckles. “They certainly argue like an old, married couple already. Don’t worry, Jamie. They’re just playing.”

“See, that’s what they  _ said.  _ But it’s still weird,” Jamie said and crossed her arms with a scowl. “Besides, they’re arguing about stuff that’s  _ true.  _ Alex is smart and Maggie is short.”

Maggie placed a hand over her heart. “Whew, way to go in for the kill there, kid. My dreams of getting into the WNBA have been dashed.”

Jamie’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings! It’s just… you aren’t  _ as  _ tall as Alex.”

Alex couldn’t help but feel a little smug. “See, Sawyer? I  _ might  _ have admitted I’m a nerd. But at least I’m not vertically challenged.”

“Ha. Haven’t heard that one yet, Danvers,” Maggie deadpanned. “Sure you’re the ‘smart’ one after all?”

“Don’t make me move all the cups to the top cabinet. I will,” Alex said threateningly.

“And I’ll cancel your rewards program with that Chinese place you and Kara like. You leave my damn cups alone!”

Alex gasped. “You wouldn’t! We have  _ years  _ of reward point tiers on there!”

“Can we get ice cream, Eliza? They’re gonna be doing this for  _ forever.  _ And I’m hungry. And I saw someone eating some earlier.”

“Oh, I would,” Maggie continued. “And I’ll be sure to tell Kara who she can pout at when she finds out.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Touch that membership, Sawyer, and I’ll cancel your subscription to Guns and Ammo. Maybe sign you up for Cosmo instead.”

“I’m afraid we’ll have to take them with us, sweetie. If we disappear on them, I have no doubt they’ll end up cordoning off the entire airport as a crime scene.”

“You do that, and Kara and I will just end up trading ‘how to please your partner’ tips  _ in front  _ of you,” Maggie said.

“Okay,” Eliza clapped to get their attention. “On that note, why don’t you girls pause this, and we can instead argue the merits of vegan ice cream again. I have to say I’d very much prefer that to  _ wherever  _ direction this conversation is going.”

“What’s that mean?” Jamie was looking at them all in turn. “‘How to please--’”

Alex groaned. “Maggie _. _ ”

Eliza was shaking her head at their antics. “Well, now you both know what it’s like to have a little sponge next to you. Get used to it, she’ll be listening even when you think she isn’t. And she’ll repeat the things you say when you least expect it, often coincidentally during the most embarrassing moments she could have possibly chosen. This will go on for  _ years.” _

“Alex is the smart one,” Maggie pointed out to Jamie with an evil smirk. “She’s  _ really  _ good at answering questions.”

_ “Maggie!” _

“Hey, I told you I wouldn’t forget. And I still won’t.”

Alex sputtered. “What? This is  _ way  _ beyond what I did earlier!”

“I never said I fight fair, Danvers.”

Jamie huffed. “Nevermind. I want ice cream instead. Please.”

Alex breathed out in a relief that couldn’t be properly expressed in mere words. She was going to put off  _ that  _ line of questioning for as long as she could. Where was she supposed to even begin to start with that? What was age appropriate? She had some research to do.  _ Someone  _ out there had to have written a book or something on the proper way to explain sex to children of various ages. If she was lucky, maybe they even drafted diagrams. Not that Alex wanted to use them  _ now.  _ That was a little too explicit for Jamie’s needs….

As her mother led them to the ice cream cart Jamie soon spotted for them, Alex caught Maggie shaking her head at her.

“Don’t think you got off  _ that  _ easy, Danvers.”

Oh, so Maggie wanted to play dirty. Alex wasn’t going to take this lying down. Her natural competitiveness was rearing its head. “Sawyer, you have no  _ idea  _ what kind of war you’re starting.”

Maggie seemed to forget that she was getting her own family visit in a few days. If she thought she was going to one up Alex in the shit stirring department, she was going to be in for a  _ rude  _ surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody order angst? No? Ah, well, here's some endless banter to make up for it. :D
> 
> Nah, but seriously, I still aim to write Alex and Eliza's relationship as fairly as possible. Which means acknowledging their rocky past and trying to process it into a more hopeful future. I think that is where many writers get stuck. They get caught up in Alex's feelings of inferiority and self-esteem issues (which are valid and important to deal with, sure) and forget to include any of the canon that explicitly proves that Alex and her mother have been working on their relationship off screen. Which ABSOLUTELY has happened. I have literally analyzed every scene these two are in for S2, right down to the body language. And it's right there. Healing is occurring.
> 
> Which, to be fair, is probably where the SG writers made a mistake. Since they did not outright show the healing directly, beyond Alex's coming out scene which Eliza reacted to amazingly, a lot of the fans who are keen to misrepresent Eliza will not pick up on the subtlety of the character growth that Eliza goes through. Which is a shame. Because Alex is not a wall flower who doesn't know how to stand up for herself and fix her relationships. In my opinion, ignoring Alex and Eliza's relationship growth holds back Alex as a character, and weakens her.
> 
> But enough about that. I could literally go on forever about it. Instead, I will point out that Jamie is now cottoning onto what her life with Alex and Maggie is going to look like for the rest of their lives. Endless, married couple, gay bantering. Poor kid. Welp, she might just end up developing her own bantering skills. Perhaps you guys have seen them a few times in this story already....


End file.
